Da Costa.] "4: [Dec. 19, 



few of his countiymeu have ever borne together. His welcome at Ox- 

 tord on Commemoration Day was very enthusiastic. His commanding 

 appearance made him conspicuous even among the distinguislied men 

 who surrounded him, and a lady who was present told the writer that 

 she felt a glow of patriotic pride in witnessing his warm reception and 

 hearing the flattering remarks his splendid bearing elicited. At Cam- 

 bridge the Public Orator addressed him as "Patrise nostrse ad portus 

 nuper advectus est vir venerabilis quem inter fratres nostros Transatlanticos 

 scientife Chirurgicae quasi alteram Nestorem nominare ausim.'' Of Ameri- 

 can colleges, to their shame be it spoken, only two, Jefferson College in 

 1861, and the University of Pennsylvania in 1884, bestowed on him any 

 honorary degree in recognition of his great literary and scientific merit. 



In March, 1883, Dr. Gross found that his physical strength was scarcely 

 adequate to the arduous labors of his chair, and, while mentallj^ as fit as 

 ever, he resigned his cherished Professorship of Surgery. The Trustees 

 at once elected him Emeritus Professor, and it was a great gratification to 

 him to find that, in dividing the chair into two, they selected his son, 

 Dr. Samuel W. Gross, to fill one part of it. 



The remaining years of Dr. Gross's life were passed in pleasant retire- 

 ment, but not idly. He had for years in Philadelphia been busy as a con- 

 sulting Surgeon, and in a large office practice, and to a certain amount of 

 this he attended to the last, his great reputation bringing him still many a 

 patient from a distance. He also wrote diligently on an autobiographj^, 

 published a paper "On the value of early operations in Morbid Growths;" 

 another "On the best means of Training Nurses for the Rural Districts," 

 a subject in which he was much interested ; and composed two essays, 

 one of them, on "Wounds of the Intestines," but a few weeks before his 

 death. His hospitality, his genial manners were the same as ever ; nay, 

 advancing years softened the whole man, and made him more benign and 

 more and more beloved. He was delightful in his own home, always 

 surrounded by friends, adored by his family. The best of fathers, he had 

 the constant companionship and care of the most devoted of children. 



In the autumn of 1883 he showed symptoms of a weak heart; his feet 

 were swollen, partly from dropsy, partly from rheumatic gout, and he had 

 a long attack of bronchial catarrh. But he improved and held his own 

 fairly well, notwithstanding signs that his digestive functions were failing, 

 until after a severe cold in March, these began to give way entirely, and 

 he died of exhaustion. May the (3th, after a long and most trying illness, 

 which he all along regarded as his last. The deepest sympathy and affec- 

 tion were everywhere expressed for him. Telegrams and letters came 

 daily, inquiring after him ; old pupils, busy men, traveled hundreds 

 of miles to grasp him once more by the liand. To very many his death 

 was a deep personal sorrow. 



An autopsy, made at his own request, showed that the stomach and heart 

 were degenerating. He had lived out the life of possible strength ; to have 

 lived longer would have been to enter upon a life of suflTering. His death 



