1884.] "1 [Da Costa. 



But, however pleasant he fonnd the social life of the great city, he 

 deemed it best for his own interests not to tarry there, and he returned to 

 Louisville ; his late colleagues received him with open arms, and his suc- 

 cessor. Dr. Eve, with generous abnegation, retired to let him renew his 

 teachings from his old chair. It- seemed that nothing would again take 

 Dr. Gross away from Louisville, where he became a very prominent citi- 

 zen, in whose reputation all took pride. But in the spring of 1856 came 

 the offer which he had not the heart to resist ; the call from his Alma 

 Mater to fill the Chair of Surgery, vacated by the most popular professor 

 of the branch in this country ; the idol of the largest classes then assem- 

 bling in any medical school in America. To succeed Thomas D. Mutter 

 was a trial to any one. But Dr. Gross, conscious of his powers as a 

 teacher, in the prime of life and of vigor, ambitious to connect his name 

 forever with that of the College where he had been educated and which a 

 band of eminent men had made so flourishing, accepted the task without 

 misgivings, and the result was unmixed success for himself and great 

 benefit to the Institution. Many were the remonstrances against his leav- 

 ing the home of his adoption, and he did so, he tells us himself in his in- 

 augural address, against the inclinations and wishes of his family. More- 

 over, he was very loth to sever his connection with the University of Louis- 

 ville "for sixteen years the pride and solace of my professional life." And 

 it was the simple truth when he stated that in making the change and 

 coming to Philadelphia, he, the most noted surgeon of the Southwest, had 

 left behind him an empire of Surgery. 



His inaugural address was very favorably received. His impressive 

 voice, his splendid intellectual appearance, the earnestness and force of 

 his words, the latent power which all his utterances and actions showed, 

 carried away his audience ; and when in solemn tones he spake these words 

 of his peroration "Whatever of life, and of health, and of strength, remains 

 to me, I hereby, in the presence of Almighty God and of this large assem- 

 blage, dedicate to the cause of my Alma Mater, to the interests of Medical 

 Science, and to the good of my fellow-creatures," it was felt that a man of 

 great strength and earnest endeavor had come among us. 



Never were thoughts more faithfully put into action. Dr. Gross was 

 indefiitigable, and became a celebrated teacher, deeply devoted to the 

 school, the reputation of which he enhanced greatly. Indeed, it may be 

 said, without injustice to any one, that for years he was the most com- 

 manding figure and the most popular teacher in it. Nor is it enough to 

 judge him- only by those around him or who held similar chairs in other 

 institutions. It is not the recollection of many acts of encouraging kind- 

 ness from an older to a younger man ; it is not the pride of a colleague 

 in the great reputation of one to whom all looked up, — which makes the 

 writer of these lines say that in his profession Samuel D. Gross takes rank 

 with the very few of the most renowned teachers of his day. To assign 

 him his proper position he must be named with the Hyrtls, the Trous- 

 seaus, the Pagets. Less finished in eloquence he may have been, but in 



PROC. AMEK. PHILOS. SOC. XXII. 117. K. PRINTED JANUARY 5, 1885. 



