Da Costa.] O^ [Dec. 19, 



perspicuity and impressiveness and in influence on his hearers he "was not 

 one whit beliind. Seeing him standing in liis lecture room, you saw tlie 

 man at his best. The learning, the method of his discourse, its clearness 

 and fullness were not more admirable than the force and directness of the 

 words which, uttered in his deep and agreeable voice, sank into the minds 

 of his youthful audience. Years afterwards men whose hair was turning 

 gray would cite the strong words of the lesson the great teacher had m.ade 

 part of the guiding thought of their daily lives. 



His didactic lectures were probably his best, though his clinical dis- 

 courses were also models of perspicuity. He was least happy in his ad- 

 dresses, delivered as iutroductories or valedictories, or on special occa- 

 sions. During his long and busy life he wrote many of them, some of 

 considerable historical value, such as the Life of Mott, of John Hunter, a 

 discourse on Ambrose Pare, an oration in honor of Ephraim McDowell. 

 As these discourses were always written out, he read them from manu- 

 script. But he was not a good reader, and no one to hear him would 

 suppose that it was the same man who, great professor that he certainly 

 was, had, when speaking without notes to liis class, their unflagging, de- 

 voted attention. Sti'ange to say, too, for one who wrote so well, the ad- 

 dresses show faults which appear nowhere else. They do not possess the 

 art of leaving things unsaid, hence there are at times repetitions in them, 

 marring their general efhciency. They have force — for it was impossible 

 for this strong man to do anything that has not force — but they lack literary 

 perspective. 



Nothing of the kind, however, appears in his scientific writings. On the 

 contrary, they are as concise, as vivid as it is possible to be. Nothing but 

 strong thoughts, nothing but clear words. And Dr. Gross acquired this 

 excellent style to such perfection that he wrote pages without a single cor- 

 rection. A most critical proof-reader once informed the writer, that of all 

 the authors he had ever known. Dr. Gross altered least, his proof was 

 the cleanest, there was scarcely a correction to be made or suggested. 



His literary pursuits were unremitting during his residence in Philadel- 

 phia. Memoirs, reviews, essays on surgical subjects appeared in rapid 

 succession ; no sooner was one done than another was under way. In 

 conjunction with Dr. T. G. Richardson, he was for a time editor of a 

 flourisliing journal, the North American Medical Chirurgical Review. 

 He was also editor of, as well as chief contributor to a volume bearing the 

 title of "Lives of Eminent American Physicians and Surgeons of the 

 Nineteenth Century." And in 1876. as a contribution to the literature of 

 the Centennial year, appeared a lengthy and extraordinary learned his- 

 tory of American Surgery from 1776 to 1876. As an instance of the rapid 

 manner in whicli, if necessary, he could work, may be mentioned, that at 

 the outbreak of the Civil War, he composed a pocket manual of Military 

 Surgery in nine days, which was largely used by the young surgeons in 

 the service ot the United States, was soon republished in Richmond and 

 equally employed by the surgeons of the Southern armies. A Japanese 



