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 Shelf 
 
 
 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 
 
 \ 9—167 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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£ 
 
 £r- 
 
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COMPLIMENTARY DINNER 
 
 GIVEN TO 
 
 PROFESSOR S. D. GROSS 
 
 BY HIS 
 
 MEDICAL FRIENDS 
 
 IN COMMEMORATION OF HIS 
 
 FIFTY-FIRST YEAR IN THE PROFESSION, 
 
 APRIL lO, 1879. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA: 
 
 LINDSAY & BLAKISTOK 
 
 1879. 
 
fill 01 ' 
 
COMMITTEE OF ARRANGEMENTS. 
 
 Prof. D. HAYES AGNEW, 
 
 Chairman. 
 
 Dr. R. J. LEVIS, 
 
 Dr. THOS. G. MORTON, 
 
 Dr. J. EWING MEARS, 
 
 Secretary. 
 
COMPLIMENTARY DINNER. 
 
 The Committee having in charge the arrangements of the 
 Complimentary Dinner given to Professor S. D. Gross in 
 commemoration of his fifty-first year in the profession of 
 medicine, beg to present to those who participated in the 
 ceremonies of that most interesting occasion, the following 
 account. In so doing, they feel that they will best carry out 
 the wishes of all in placing in their hands a permanent record 
 of an event, memorable in the medical annals of this city and 
 country. In days to come the perusal of this record will 
 recall vividly the scenes of that evening — the assemblage of so 
 many of the most distinguished members of the medical pro- 
 fession of this city and country — the sincere and heartfelt ex- 
 pressions of regard and affection — the warm and hearty con- 
 gratulations offered in person, by letter and dispatch, to him 
 in whose honor the dinner was given. It had been the in- 
 tention of Professor Gross's friends to have extended to him the 
 compliment of a dinner on the occasion of his semi-centennial 
 professional birthday; domestic bereavement, however, com- 
 pelled them to postpone the intended celebration until this 
 year, commemorating thereby his fifty-first year in the pro- 
 fession of medicine. 
 
 At a meeting of the Surgical Club, in February, a com- 
 mittee, consisting of Drs. D. H. Agnew, R. J. Levis, and T. 
 G. Morton, was appointed to confer with Prof. Gross, ascertain 
 his wishes in the matter, and take charge of the arrangements 
 for the dinner. 
 
6 COMPLIMENTARY DINNER 
 
 The following letter was sent to Prof. Gross by the com- 
 mittee: 
 
 Philadelphia, February 18th, 1879. 
 
 Professor S. D. Gross. 
 
 Dear Doctor : A number of your friends in Philadel- 
 phia, out of love for your many personal virtues, and from a 
 high appreciation of your distinguished professional position 
 as the representative surgeon of America, have expressed a 
 desire to extend to you the compliment of a public dinner, and 
 the undersigned have accordingly been appointed a committee 
 by our Surgical Club, with whom the subject originated, to 
 ascertain your feelings in the matter, and to receive any sug- 
 gestions which may enable them successfully to carry out the 
 contemplated object. 
 
 Very sincerely, your friends, 
 
 D. Hayes Agnew, 
 Thomas G. Morton, 
 R. J. Levis. 
 
 In answer, Professor Gross replied as follows : 
 
 Drs. Agnew, Morton, and Levis. 
 
 Gentlemen : I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt 
 of your letter of the 18th inst., proffering me, in the name of 
 my friends, a public dinner as an appreciation of my private 
 and professional character. Your communication, so expres- 
 sive of personal kindness, profoundly touches my heart; and, 
 although I cannot see things exactly in the light in which 
 you see them, I cannot forego so pleasant an opportunity of 
 meeting you and those you represent on an occasion which 
 will be likely to be attended with so much enjoyment. I, 
 therefore, cordially accept your kind invitation, leaving it to 
 you to appoint the time for the entertainment. 
 
 I am, my dear friends, with many thanks for your kind- 
 ness, very truly and affectionately, yours, 
 
 S. D. Gross. 
 
 Philadelphia, February 22d, 1879. 
 
TO PROFESSOR S. D. GROSS. 7 
 
 At the subsequent meeting of the Surgical Club, Dr. J. 
 Ewing Mears was added to the Committee of Arrangements, 
 and, at a meeting of the Committee, he was appointed its sec- 
 retary. Active measures were now taken to perfect the 
 arrangements for the dinner, and in a short time one hundred 
 and five members of the profession representing this city and 
 State, and the States of New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland, 
 became subscribers to the fund. 
 
 A list of invited guests, embracing the intimate personal 
 friends of Prof. Gross, and the representative surgeons of the 
 country, was prepared, and invitations were sent, asking them 
 to be present. 
 
 In order that ample room should be provided, the St. 
 George Hotel was selected as the place at which the dinner 
 should be given, and April 10th, the day. The room was 
 handsomely decorated with flowers and growing plants, and 
 on the table were placed plateaus and baskets of the choicest 
 flowers, arranged with great taste. At each plate was a copy 
 of the menu printed in gold on satin, the edges of which were 
 fringed with lace. An orchestra was placed in a convenient 
 position, and, during the dinner, discoursed appropriate 
 music. The tables were so arranged that all could have a 
 view of the guest of the evening, who, with the presiding 
 officer, Prof. Agnew, occupied the posts of honor. On either 
 side were seated Profs. A. Flint, Sr., of New York, and Ben- 
 jamin Si Hi man, of Yale College, Dr. Bozeman, Prof. A. Flint, 
 Jr., of New York, and Dr. Trail Green, of Easton, Pa. At 
 other prominent places were seated Profs. Wood, Post, and 
 Sayre, of New York, Yandell, of Kentucky, Otis and Norris, 
 U. S. A., Van Bibber and Smith, of Baltimore, with many 
 of the distinguished members of the profession from the State, 
 and States of New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland. The 
 profession of the city was represented by many of its most 
 distinguished members — members of the Faculties of the Uni- 
 versity of Pennsylvania and of Jefferson Medical College, the 
 Hospital Staffs, and the physicians and surgeons of the various 
 public institutions. 
 
8 COMPLIMENTARY DINNER 
 
 When justice had been done to the excellent and varied 
 bill of fare which had been provided, Professor Agnew arose 
 and announced as the first toast of the evening, "Our Guest," 
 addressing Professor Gross as follows : 
 
 "The honor of speaking to this toast devolves upon myself, 
 and I may say that it gives me great pleasure to be the medium 
 of extending to you, on this occasion, the friendly congratula- 
 tions of your professional brethren here present. Fifty-one 
 years is a long time, my dear sir, for a man to labor in any 
 department of knowledge. Will you recall for a moment just 
 a few of the events which have transpired during this period ? 
 Two generations have played their part in the great drama of 
 life, and have left the stage. Dynasties which bid fair to rival 
 in perpetuity that of Rome itself, have risen, flourished, and 
 passed into decay. Engineers have struck their levels, and 
 laid down great iron roadways from one end of this conti- 
 nent to the other, uniting together the waters of the Atlantic 
 and the Pacific. The most distant parts of the earth have 
 been reached by threads of iron over which pass the thoughts 
 of men in chariots of electric fire. The telephone has made 
 the world a great whispering gallery; the powder cart, and the 
 subtle arts of diplomacy have reconstructed the entire map of 
 Europe; and an American medical and surgical literature has 
 grown up to which you have been one of the largest contribu- 
 tors, a literature which is not only read on this side of the 
 Atlantic, but in every civilized country on the face of the globe. 
 And yet here you still remain, my good friend, sturdy and 
 strong as a great oak of the forest ; or, like Moses, with eye 
 undi mined and strength unabated. It is, I fear, too commonly 
 thought, in these days of mad haste for preferment, place, or 
 power, that men, when they have passed three score and ten 
 years, should gracefully retire to the shades of private and 
 inactive life, leaving the field to younger athletes. This is a 
 great mistake. Look at old Plato, at eighty-one, delving 
 away at his studies with all the enthusiasm of youth; at Isoc- 
 rates, delivering his great Panathenaic oration at ninety-six, 
 
TO PROFESSOR S. D. GROSS. 9 
 
 and Cicero, with ' strength of sides/ to use his own expression, 
 and with the voice of a trumpet making one of his grandest 
 efforts in carrying to a successful issue the Vaconian law. No, 
 no ! There is something in the grace and dignity of age; its 
 serene complacency of mind, which, when coupled with an 
 affluent wealth of knowledge and rich stores of observation 
 and experience, renders the presence of old men in our midst 
 pillars of strength, not only in a profession like our own, but 
 to the community at large, indeed to the world. The wisdom 
 of old Fabius was more than a match for the trained legions 
 of the youthful and wily Hannibal. It was not for men like 
 Milo, or Ajax, for which the Captain of all the Greeks prayed, 
 in order that he might humble the proud battlements of Troy, 
 but for men like Nestor. Long may you yet live, my dear 
 sir, to actively engage in the duties of the profession which 
 you have dignified and honored, and when the inevitable hour 
 comes, as come it must to each and all of us, — that supreme 
 hour, on which all the hours of human life concentrate, — may 
 your eyes close on the scenes of earth, calm and quiet as a 
 summer evening. 
 
 "It only remains for me, my dear sir, to place on the lapel 
 of your coat this little decoration. It is the gift of the gen- 
 tlemen who sit around this board ; and also this book; which 
 contains the names of those who participate in this interesting 
 ceremonial. These souvenirs may serve, when you shall have 
 laid aside the harness of conflict, to recall some pleasant mem- 
 ories of the past, and they may also tend to fire the ambition 
 of your sons to emulate the ambition of their noble sire." 
 
 When Professor Agnew had finished his address, he at- 
 tached to the lapel of Professor Gross's coat a gold medal, 
 having on one side, the monogram "S. D. G." in diamonds 
 and brilliants, and on the other, this inscription: "Presented 
 to Dr. 8. D. Gross by his medical friends in commemoration 
 of his fifty-first year in the profession, April 10, 1879." The 
 book, containing the names of the invited guests and sub- 
 scribers, consisted of leaves of tinted paper, having the names 
 
 2 
 
10 COMPLIMENTARY DINNEB 
 
 neatly written thereon, and placed between covers of Russia 
 leather. 
 
 Professor Gross in response said : 
 
 " In rising to respond to the toast offered by the distinguished 
 chairman, I feel deeply oppressed by what Dr. Rush has so 
 well described as ' suffocated excitement.' You need not be 
 assured how much I appreciate the honor conferred upon me by 
 this occasion and by this warm reception. The sentiments 
 embodied in the toast touch my heart, and I should indeed be 
 dead to all the finer feelings of my nature if I did not tender 
 you my most cordial and respectful acknowledgments. It is 
 no light compliment to be in such a presence or to be the 
 guest of such a company. To merit the approbation of my 
 professional brethren and of good men generally has ever been 
 my highest ambition, as it must be of every honest and vir- 
 tuous citizen. The offer of a public dinner, extended to me a 
 few weeks ago by a committee of my professional friends, took 
 me completely by surprise, and would probably have been 
 promptly declined if it had not been accompanied by such kind 
 and flattering words as at once to satisfy me that they came 
 from the heart. The commendations which you have bestowed 
 upon my private character and public services as a practitioner 
 and teacher of surgery are measured, I am conscious, rather 
 by your own generous feelings than by any deserts of mine. 
 Whatever value these services may possess, it is no ordinary 
 consolation to me to know that they are appreciated by men 
 among whom I have lived for nearly a quarter of a century, 
 with many of whom I have been brought into frequent con- 
 tact in various relations of life — often, indeed, under circum- 
 stances of a most trying kind — with some of whom I have 
 been officially associated, and with none of whom, thanks be 
 to God, ever I have had one word of misunderstanding. 
 
 " It is not a pleasant thing to speak of one's self, but there are 
 a few circumstances in the history of my uneventful life to 
 
TO PROFESSOR S. D. GROSS. 11 
 
 which I may perhaps be pardoned for referring upon this occa- 
 sion. I have grown old in the profession, for, as pupil and prac- 
 titioner, I have been in it for fifty-four years, my graduation 
 dating back to March, 1828. A little over one month ago I 
 closed my thirty-ninth course of lectures on surgery. If to 
 these thirty-nine years be added two years spent as Demon- 
 strator of Anatomy in the Medical College of Ohio, and four 
 years passed in the Medical Department of the Cincinnati 
 College as Professor of Pathological Anatomy, it will be per- 
 ceived that my life as a public teacher extends over a period 
 of forty-five years. During all this time it has been my good 
 fortune to miss few lectures, either from sickness or any other 
 cause. If my teaching has not always been of the best quality, 
 it has been as good as I knew how to make it. Whatever esti- 
 mate may have been placed upon it by those who have listened 
 to it, I can solemnly declare that it has always been earnest and 
 conscientious, with an eye single to the interests of my pupils, 
 the truths of medical science, and the honor and dignity of the 
 profession. On no occasion have I entered the amphitheatre 
 without due preparation. 
 
 "One of the great objects of my early professional life 
 was to qualify myself for the position of a public teacher. 
 This idea, which haunted me as I sat upon the hard benches 
 of my Alma Mater, like the daemon of Socrates, gave me no rest 
 day or night. My first effort in this direction was made in 
 this city, at the Franklin Institute, in the spring of 1830, the 
 subject being general anatomy, a branch of study then little 
 understood or cared for in this country. The effort, however, 
 proved to be an abortive one. The novelty of the subject, 
 my own inexperience, and the paucity of students in the city 
 at that season of the year were the causes of my failure. Find- 
 ing practicing and lecturing in so large a city to be uphill 
 work, I removed to Easton, in this State, whence, after two 
 years and a half spent in earnest work, I went, in 1833, to 
 Cincinnati as Demonstrator of Anatomy in the Medical College 
 of Ohio. From this institution, after a service of two years, I 
 
12 COMPLIMENTARY DINNER 
 
 was called to the chair of Pathological Anatomy in the Cincin- 
 nati College, in which I gave the first regular and systematic 
 course of lectures on that most important branch of anatomy 
 ever delivered in this country. In 1840 I was invited to the 
 chair of Surgery in the University of Louisville. In 1850 I 
 became the successor of Dr. Valentine Mott in the University 
 of New York, but returned} after the close of the session, to 
 the school in Kentucky. In 1856 I accepted the chair of Sur- 
 gery in my Alma Mater, unanimously tendered me by its 
 honorable Board of Trustees. 
 
 "Having been thus actively engaged for so many years as a 
 public teacher, it is not surprising that my pupils should be 
 scattered, far and wide, over the country, while not a few of 
 them are successfully practicing in foreign climes. Upwards 
 of five thousand diplomas bear my signature. Of the thirty- 
 seven colleagues with whom I have at various times been as- 
 sociated, twenty-six have fallen by the wayside, for the most 
 part ripe in years and full of honor, leaving eleven survivors, 
 among others Willard Parker, Austin Flint, John W. Draper, 
 Benjamin Silliman, and our distinguished townsman, Joseph 
 Pancoast, five men of whom any profession in any country 
 might justly be proud. 
 
 " It has been said that youth is a blunder, manhood a struggle, 
 and old age a regret. If this be true, I have not realized it in 
 my own person ; nor need it be true of any one who is true 
 to himself. Struggles of some kind or other are almost the 
 inevitable lot of every man who is not born with a silver 
 spoon in his mouth. I certainly had mine, but they were 
 the struggles of early life, and I thank God for them, for they 
 taught me patience and perseverance and self-reliance, those 
 powerful aids in developing character. These struggles 
 did not discourage me. On the contrary, I felt as Sheridan 
 felt when he made his maiden speech in the British House of 
 Commons, that it was in me, and would come out of me; or, 
 as Erskine expressed it on a similar occasion, I felt as if my 
 children were tugging at my coat, and urging me on to indus- 
 
TO PROFESSOR S. D. GROSS. 13 
 
 try and perseverance that I might supply their necessities. A 
 brave man never yields to despair. His motto is ' Persever- 
 antia omnia vincit,' This has been my motto, and whatever 
 success I may have achieved is due to persistent effort and to 
 a definite aim in life without any faltering or misgiving in 
 regard to the final issue. I have never lost sight of the fact 
 that what a man soweth he shall reap, or that, ' if the spring 
 show no blossoms, autumn will show no fruit.' 
 
 "Much has been said about the inspiration of genius. The 
 greatest efforts that have ever been made at the forum, in the 
 pulpit, or in the senate, in ancient or modern times, were the 
 result of hard study and patient labor. Patrick Henry, Wil- 
 liam Pinknev, Daniel Webster, Rufus Choate, and others 
 like them, never made a great argument or a great oratorical 
 display without preparation, and the same is true of every 
 profession and every pursuit. After fifty years of earnest 
 work I find myself still in the harness; but although I have 
 reached that age when most men, tired of the cares of life, seek 
 repose in retirement, and abandon themselves to the study of 
 religion, the claims of friendship, or the contemplation of 
 philosophy, my conviction has always been that it is far better 
 for a man to wear out than to rust out. Brain work, with 
 steady and persistent application, has been a great comfort to 
 me, as well as a great help ; it has enhanced the enjoyment of 
 daily life, and added largely to the pleasures of the lecture- 
 room and of authorship; indeed, it will always, I am sure, if 
 wisely regulated, be conducive both to health and longevity. 
 A man who abandons himself to a life of inactivity after 
 having long been accustomed to work, is practically dead. 
 
 "In taking a retrospect of my life, I have no regrets; and 
 although I may not be able to say, ' Non omnis moriar/ I trust 
 that I have not lived wholly in vain, for while much remains 
 undone that might and should have been done, it is reason- 
 able to suppose that at least some of the seed which I have 
 sown have produced good fruit. It is not given to every 
 man to be a Harvey, a Hunter, a Jenner, a Bichat, a Morton, 
 
14 COMPLIMENTAKY DINNER 
 
 a Paget, or a Virchow. 'By the grace of God,' says St. Paul, 
 <I am what I am.' No man can rise superior to himself. 
 
 " What is fame? Is it a phantom, or is it a reality? Alas! 
 too often the former; too seldom the latter. Few medical 
 works, however meritorious, outlive their authors, and no 
 sooner does a teacher retire from the field of his labor than 
 his pupils worship other gods. Happy, thrice happy, is he 
 who in the evening of his life, as he reviews his past conduct, 
 can say to himself, ' I have been true to my profession; I have 
 been ambitious of its glory ; I have done nothing to tarnish 
 its escutcheon/ 
 
 "As I look back through the dark vista of half a century, 
 what memories crowd upon my mind ! Kingdoms have 
 crumbled into dust; new dynasties have sprung up; the world 
 has been drenched in blood by contending armies; millions of 
 human beings have been swept away by pestilence and famine; 
 civilization, commerce, the arts and sciences, religion and edu- 
 cation have found new homes; the uttermost parts of the globe 
 have been explored by intrepid navigators and adventurous 
 travellers; time and space have been annihilated by the tele- 
 graph, and the employment of steam and the application of ma- 
 chinery have changed the occupations of man, and thrown upon 
 us a surplus population, which the wisest statesmen know not 
 how to dispose of. The art and the science of medicine have 
 been completely revolutionized and enriched to an extent which 
 fifty years ago would have baffled the wildest conceptions. 
 During these vast changes, so pregnant in beneficence to man- 
 kind, America has not been idle. If she had contributed 
 nothing more to the stock of human happiness than anaesthet- 
 ics, the world would owe her an everlasting debt of gratitude. 
 The fanciful and mischievous speculations which characterized 
 medicine in the days of my youth have been replaced by sober 
 facts, founded upon more carefully conducted observations and 
 more rational deductions. In preventive medicine a new field 
 has been opened which, if properly explored and cultivated, 
 as it seems destined to be, will add millions of years to the 
 
TO PROFESSOR S. 1). GROSS* 15 
 
 life of the human race. Oh! for a glance at the profession 
 half a century hence, when man, enlightened and refined by 
 education, and redeemed from the thraldom of ignorance and 
 superstition, shall reflect more perfectly than he now does the 
 image of his Maker. 
 
 "I thank you, Mr. Chairman, and you, gentlemen, who 
 have honored me with your presence this evening, for the 
 patience and attention with which you have listened to 
 my rambling remarks. Allow me, before I take my seat, to 
 wish you, one and all, prosperity and happiness, and to drink 
 your health with a heart brimful of gratitude for the many 
 favors that have been showered upon me by my professional 
 brethren/' 
 
 The second toast, "The Invited Guests/' was spoken to by 
 Professor R. E. Rogers, who said : 
 
 "Gentlemen : The present is an occasion such as rarely pre- 
 sents itself, and is one of unusual interest. The life of man from 
 the crad le to the grave is scarcely more, taking the world at large, 
 than fifty years,and the working lifeof man isscarcely more than 
 half of that period. Yet we are here to contemplate in this 
 busy life, spending in professional usefulness twice as many 
 years as man usually does, a life full of activity, dignity, and 
 success spread out over a space of half a century ! It is an 
 inborn sentiment of the mind that it should feel deep emo- 
 tion as it contemplates the grand works of nature. This 
 sentiment is primitive and natural and common to all men. 
 As he stands at the side of that lofty tower, in the shade of 
 the cloistered sequalia, he listens to the thunder of the mighty 
 cataract and gazes upon the sunlit snow-capped mountain 
 peak from whence it sprung, and follows its course to the 
 swiftly moving mountain stream, he feels involuntarily en- 
 nobled and elevated, and realizes that he can pass in feeling 
 from nature to nature's God. He feels himself a king, and 
 in that presence a king feels that men must meet here upon a 
 common level of humanity. It is with sentiments akin to 
 
16 COMPLIMENTABY DINNER 
 
 these that we contemplate the struggle and triumphs of a long 
 and active life, and pay honor to the veteran. It is a rare and 
 delightful privilege to be allowed to gather here together to 
 honor and congratulate our friend upon the attainment of that 
 golden period when like the sturdy oak of the forest, boast- 
 ing the encircling rings of life, he stands the very expression 
 of strength, vigor, activity, and life. 
 
 "The members of the medical profession of Philadelphia 
 have desired to put on record their appreciation of the noble 
 and useful life that our honored guest has led among us, and 
 have asked distinguished representative gentlemen of the pro- 
 fession from different parts of the country to join them in 
 paying respect and honor to that gifted mind, which has been 
 employed in a manner so beneficent to the world at large. 
 We have, gentlemen, invited you, and on behalf of my fellow- 
 members of the profession in this city I extend to you a cor- 
 dial, heartfelt welcome on this occasion and to this scene of 
 sincere enjoyment and festivity." 
 
 In behalf of the invited guests, Prof. D. W. Yandell, of 
 Louisville, Kentucky, responded as follows: 
 
 " Mr. Chairman : When the invitation came to unite in 
 this offering, I was deeply touched. It revived memories of 
 my student life, when, as the pupil of your guest, I came be- 
 fore him for examination for the doctorate, now thirty-three 
 years — a generation — ago. The teachings of that period have 
 remained a part of my life. The method, the system, which 
 the great master observed, as in his earnest way he gradually 
 unfolded to the minds of his hearers the grand truths which 
 lie in the upper planes of surgery ; the painstaking, conscien- 
 tious care with which he infused interest into the dry details 
 of his subject, his fiery zeal, his never flagging industry, and 
 better than all this, the solemnity with which he declared that 
 to be a truly great physician it was essential to be at the same 
 time a truly good man — all these are as fresh to me this even- 
 ing as when I made one of his hearers, now so long ago. 
 
TO PROFESSOR S. D. GROSS. 17 
 
 "Mr. Chairman, I obeyed the summons to be here with 
 alacrity. I came with pleasure. Nay, more, I came with 
 feelings akin, I fancy, to those which animate the pilgrim as 
 he turns his footsteps toward the tomb of the Prophet. With 
 fitting reverence, sir, I stand in this august presence. 
 
 "I come, sir, as the humble representative of a great people, 
 the people of Kentucky, who send you greeting on this auspi- 
 cious occasion. I come, empowered by them, to lay at the feet 
 of your illustrious guest the homage of that renowned com- 
 monwealth. I come to wish him yet many years upon the 
 earth, and to say that though his name and fame have become 
 a common heritage, Kentucky still claims them as peculiarly 
 her own, since it was in her borders that he laid the founda- 
 tion of a reputation which has not only irradiated this conti- 
 nent, but has penetrated wherever civilization is known or 
 surgery is cultivated as a science. I feel, Mr. Chairman, that 
 it is an honor to be called on to speak on such an occasion, 
 and for such a people — a people which has given to states- 
 manship a Clay, a Lincoln, and a Breckinridge; to arms a 
 Johnston, a Preston, and a Buckner; and to surgery a 
 McDowell and a Dudley. A goodly company ! Stately 
 names! Would you think me as exceeding the limits of good 
 taste if I added — and chief among all these is that of him who 
 bears the mark of our guild — Ephraim McDowell ? For, 
 sir, will not the labors of the statesman yield to the pitiless 
 logic of events, the voice of the orator grow fainter in the 
 coming ages, and the deeds of the soldier eventually find 
 place but in the libraries of the student of military campaigns, 
 while the achievements of the village surgeon, like the widen- 
 ing waves of the inviolate sea, shall reach the uttermost 
 shores of time, hailed of all civilizations as having lessened 
 the sufferings and lengthened the span of human life? 
 
 " Again, would you think me very far wrong were I to 
 couple the victorious issue of the late war, and the operation 
 of ovariotomy as in different fields the two most stupendous 
 events of modern times ? Sir, both are to be credited to Ken- 
 
18 COMPLIMENTARY DINNER 
 
 tuckians. Mr. Lincoln effected the one. Dr. McDowell ac- 
 complished the other. Not yet, in my opinion, do the 
 two achievements admit of comparison. Powerful cabinets, 
 far-seeing ministers, renowned captains, a daring and multi- 
 tudinous soldiery, a rich, a steady, a united, and a persistent 
 people contributed to the success of the former. Its glory 
 was won amid the blare of trumpets, the groans of men, the 
 shock of contending armies. The glory of the other belongs 
 to but one man, is single and indivisible, was born under 
 the eyes of fair women, and by the cunning of a single hand, 
 which, amid supreme peril, plucked victory from an enemy 
 which before McDowell's time had defied all that was subtlest 
 in art, and repulsed every assault of science. 
 
 "But, sir, I must fain have done. I feel that it is good to 
 have been here. I shall return to my people and recount to 
 them what I have seen, and what heard, and repeat to them 
 what I now offer in their name : 
 
 "To our guest, the illustrious son of Pennsylvania, the foster son of 
 Kentucky, who, to the nimbus which ever encircles great deeds, has added 
 the milk-white flower of a stainless life." 
 
 When Professor Yandell had concluded, Professor Gross 
 rose to his feet, and, with much emotion, said : 
 
 "May my illustrious pupil carry back the assurance of my 
 deep respect for the people of the State of Kentucky, and my 
 undying attachment for the men, the women, and their homes. 
 Though absent nearly a quarter of a century, my heart burns 
 for my early home among them. May God preserve Ken- 
 tucky, its people, and its happy homes." 
 
 The third toast, " Medical Education," was proposed by the 
 chairman, and Dr. Traill Green, of Easton, Pa., was called 
 upon to respond. 
 
 " Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen : This is the proudest 
 evening of my professional life. I believe I enjoy it almost 
 as much as Professor Gross. It is a pleasure and an honor 
 
TO PEOFESSOR S. D. GROSS. 19 
 
 to be present on such an occasion, and the pride I feel I know 
 is shared by the members of the profession who have come 
 here to unite in doing honor to our distinguished friend. At 
 the end of fifty years' labor among us, we have come together 
 to celebrate this fact. 
 
 "My early experience and first acquaintance with Dr. Gross 
 was rather a painful one. He came of a German family, in 
 our neighborhood — the Germans are a pushing, thriving, in- 
 dustrious people, and he is an instance of what they can do. 
 Well, after he graduated, he came in April, 1830, and opened 
 an office at Easton. He had a good head on his shoul- 
 ders, and you can generally tell what a man is by the shape 
 of his head. Well, to explain our first meeting, I went to 
 him with the toothache, and he pulled a molar for me. 
 
 " ' 1 knew him well, the good old soul, 
 He came, and went, and left a hole.' 
 
 "He has probably forgotten all about it, but the hole is still 
 there, and I think of him perhaps oftener than any other man 
 in the room, for whenever my tongue goes into the gap, I re- 
 member Dr. Gross. He was then a young man, and I had a 
 friendship for the young surgeon, even after pulling out my 
 tooth, for I knew he would succeed. 
 
 " • The man, who thus a tooth could jerk, 
 Would never lack for want of work.' 
 
 "Strange to say, many of the young doctors of the present 
 day do not know how either to pull a tooth or to bleed, which 
 was very essential in those days. I was recently at a water- 
 ing-place where there were a number of surgeons, but they 
 had to send some distance for a dentist to come and pull a 
 tooth. 
 
 " But to speak of what the doctor has told you himself about 
 his life when a young man, the secret of his success was work. 
 There is no way of getting along except by hard work ; the 
 only way to develop manhood is by hard w 7 ork. I remember 
 him as a young man in his home, and the little house that 
 
20 COMPLIMENTARY DINNER 
 
 he had built back of the garden for a dissecting-room, where he 
 used to work until late into the night. How many dogs and 
 unfortunate cats suffered and died in that room no one could 
 tell. He was much interested, I remember, at the time in 
 studying the effects of manual strangulation, and many a dog was 
 hung as a martyr to science. Human bodies, also, sometimes 
 found their way to this little dissecting-room, but they were 
 all imported. I recall an instance in this connection that is 
 amusing : A soldier, a drunken fellow, had committed suicide 
 by hanging, and was buried in the cemetery. I was out vis- 
 iting one evening, when Gross called me out to the door, and 
 said, ' Green, I want that fellow.' Well, we got a wheelbarrow 
 and a spade, and, with another student, we marched to the spot. 
 The night was very dark and the place lonely, but the first 
 stroke of the spade made so much noise in the gravel that we 
 were afraid that some one would hear us, and so we gave it 
 up. We might as well have had him though, for everybody 
 //iq believed we did. 3|y uncle said, a few days later, ( Well, 
 did you get George?' and when I denied it, he said, 'Why I 
 heard that you got four gallons of oil out of him.' That is 
 about the idea people have of the value of dissecting. They 
 think that the doctors make medicine out of the bodies to pro- 
 tect themselves from infectious diseases. 
 
 "The old house and the dissecting-room have disappeared, 
 and a bank now occupies the spot. The place has changed, 
 but the work that was there inaugurated will go straight for- 
 ward. The bank will decay, and the money of the brokers 
 will turn into dust, but the work that was done for the ad- 
 vancement of humanity will go on bearing fruit till the end of 
 time. The foundations that were laid in that place will never 
 be forgotten. How shall we reach eminence, and how attain 
 success ? Undoubtedly by the continuous, persevering effort, 
 which the doctor has told you has been his means of attaining 
 his present position. A man who devotes himself to his pro- 
 fession as he has done will be sure to succeed. 
 
 " Some one has spoken about a doctor's getting too old to 
 
TO PROFESSOR S. D. GROSS. 21 
 
 practise medicine. It's a mistake ; doctors never get too old 
 as long as they can walk about to see their patients. Minis- 
 ters or lawyers get too old, but the older a physician becomes 
 the more experienced he becomes, and the more useful and re- 
 liable he is. I never saw a doctor who was too old to practise; 
 and, moreover, a doctor, who attends to his duties never fails 
 in his business. Insurance men say that ninety-eight per cent, 
 of business men die poor ; they never have a capital which en- 
 dures. A doctor's capital is his skilled and cultivated mind 
 and experienced hand; he cannot lose his capital, nor can it be 
 taken from him by reverses. A doctor can only become bank- 
 rupt by forsaking the profession of his early choice, and en- 
 gaging in outside speculation. This ruins a physician's pros- 
 pects in more ways than one. 
 
 " We must not forget that other physicians are our brothers, 
 even though coming from a different school ; after graduating, 
 we are all on the same footing. 
 
 11 ' Each old crow thinks its young one is the whitest, 
 Each mother thinks that her child is the brightest; 
 But sister colleges, with graduates by dozens, 
 Must ne'er forget their children are first-cousins.' 
 
 "In conclusion I would say that I am glad to be present, 
 and could make no more fitting response to the toast of ' Med- 
 ical Education,' than to speak of the course of Professor 
 Gross, and to thank him for what he had done for the advance- 
 ment of our profession." 
 
 The chairman requested Dr. Post, of New York, to respond 
 to the toast of " American Surgery." Dr. Post said : 
 
 "Mr. Chairman: At this late hour I can scarcely respond 
 to this sentiment. 
 
 " I will, however, since I am called upon, say a few words 
 in regard to ' American Surgery.' Since the time when it 
 could first be said that this country has had any surgery, it 
 has shown a vitality that has kept it fully abreast of the sur- 
 gery of any part of the civilized world, and many are the im- 
 
22 COMPLIMENTARY DINNER 
 
 provements and advancements that have originated in this 
 country. If we look back to the beginning of the century, 
 and the years that have since elapsed, we see such men as 
 Physick and Dorsey, McClellan, Mutter, Wright Post, Mott, 
 Stevens, Warren, Mussey, Nathan Smith, March, and many 
 others, who did admirable work for the advancement of sur- 
 gery in their day. 
 
 "As these passed away, their places were filled by men 
 who have equally made it their aim to keep abreast of the 
 science and to make improvements. 
 
 "The distinguished guest of this evening is a contemporary 
 of those I have mentioned, and has lived to be the contem- 
 porary of a number of young men who are striving to attain 
 a still higher point than has been attained by their predecessors. 
 He has distinguished himself in a number of ways — as a great 
 surgeon, as a writer, as a professor. Indeed of him it might 
 well be said, 'Nihil quod tetigit non ornaviV I have no 
 doubt that I express the sentiment of those who sit about 
 me, when I wish that his life may be long continued, and 
 when he is called away from this life may his son prove that 
 he is chip of the old block." 
 
 Surgeon Basil Norris, U. S. A., was called upon by the 
 chairman to respond to the toast of " The Army and Navy/' 
 which he did as follows : 
 
 "Gentlemen : I am deeply sensible of the honor of speak- 
 ing before this large assembly, but somewhat at a loss for 
 something new to say of your distinguished guest. It will 
 not be news to him to hear that his fair fame has gone 
 wherever soldiers have marched, or ships have sailed, nor that 
 his professional reputation is national and universal. Even 
 on our frontier, beyond the abode of civilized communities, in 
 Texas, Utah, New Mexico, Colorado, or on the Western plains, 
 at military camps and stations, where only a few precious 
 books were gathered together, there have I found Gross's 
 System of Surgery, those two large volumes, crowding the 
 
TO PROFESSOR S. D. GROSS. 23 
 
 United States Dispensatory, its only voluminous rival for space 
 upon the scanty shelves. These big books of reference are 
 indispensable, and I have observed with pleasure the respect- 
 ful consideration bestowed upon them. The hospital steward 
 inclines towards the materia medica, and is a friend to phar- 
 macy, but whilst he preserves with jealous care the repository 
 of all his knowledge of compounding medicine, accords the 
 most conspicuous place to Professor Gross among the authors, 
 where he ranks supreme. In conclusion, permit me heartily to 
 unite with you in congratulating Dr. Gross upon this anniver- 
 sary, and upon his long, successful, brilliant, and splendid 
 
 " The next toast," said the chairman, 
 but I will put it in a little different form, and announce it as 
 ' Auld Lang Syne/ and call upon Professor Silliman, of Yale 
 College, to respond." 
 
 Prof. Silliman said : 
 
 "Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen: It gives me great 
 pleasure to be here, and I am very happy to address you. I 
 first met Dr. Gross at the opening of a course of instruction at 
 the University of Louisville. It is painful to return to those 
 old memories; but I will go back a few years previous, to the 
 occasion when I first heard his name. In looking over the 
 papers of my lamented father, I encountered one written from 
 Easton, Pennsylvania, that claimed my attention. It was brief 
 and accompanied a set of specimens collected in the neighbor- 
 hood of Easton, and with great modesty the letter respectfully 
 asked the names and value of some of the specimens. 
 
 "Gentlemen, straws show the way the wind blows, and the 
 patience and industry displayed in the collection of those min- 
 erals show that under other circumstances he would have be- 
 come a distinguished mineralogist worthy of America, had his 
 instincts not led him to seek for stones where mineralogists do 
 not ordinarily look for them. 
 
 "It was in 1849 that I had the pleasure of first making the 
 
24 ( M P L [ M ENT A R Y DINNER 
 
 acquaintance of my distinguished friend. It was in the month 
 of August, at an assembly in Louisville. The leading physi- 
 cians, prominent lawyers, and distinguished merchants of the 
 city were present. What an assembly of stalwart men were 
 there! I believe that the little clergyman and myself were 
 the only ones present under six feet in stature. Evidently 
 there was no decline in the physical development of the race 
 in Kentucky. 
 
 "I must remember, however, that Dr. Gross was from 
 Pennsylvania, and that he was only borrowed by Kentucky, 
 to be returned again. 
 
 "In his lectures he was liked by the students, and had 
 sometimes four or five hundred men to listen to them. In 
 the early part of his career he affected a horror of surgery and 
 could hardly be persuaded to perform trivial operations. 
 Further on he was induced to turn his attention to this field, 
 for which his pathological studies had especially qualified him. 
 
 "Among those who associated with him I can only 
 mention a few. In the chair of Materia Medica there was 
 Charles Short, a young man from Philadelphia, who became 
 eminent as a man of science. Daniel Drake was also a col- 
 league. It is to him that we are indebted for the mon- 
 ument of labor involved in his work upon the etiology of 
 disease in this country. Xo scientific societies then existed, 
 no organizations to assist him in his work, but it was to his 
 own indefatigable exertions and most self-denying personal 
 efforts, that we owe the valuable results of his labors. Com- 
 mencing in 1836 and 1837 he travelled long distances and 
 made long residences in different parts of the country, seeking 
 in the case-books of physicians those facts that after years of 
 preparation he gave to the world. He even made a study of 
 the different effects of disease in various localities upon the 
 different races — the Caucasian, the Mongolian, the African, 
 including the Esquimuax, which he recognized as belonging 
 to a different race. 
 
 "Nor should it be forgotten that we reckoned amid that 
 
TO PROFESSOR S. D. GROSS. 25 
 
 circle Elisha Bartlett, whose musical voice and polished utter- 
 ances are still in our minds; and Charles Wells, the author 
 of the true theory of dew, who carried on most patient 
 investigations in his garden and finally found himself in 
 the possession of facts opposed to the current views at that 
 time ; but his theory was afterwards universally accepted. 
 Although laboring under a personal infirmity, he carried on 
 his researches until late in the night. You do not learn 
 now, for the first time, that this Wells was an American — a 
 native of South Carolina. He had suggested, as stated by 
 Professor Tyndall in a public address, as early as 1813, the 
 theory of natural selection, w^hich Darwin afterwards popu- 
 larized. 
 
 " These memories crowd upon the mind like the marine 
 
 shell— 
 
 11 ' Bearing the memory of the ocean's.' 
 
 " Then shall we ever forget Lunsford P. Yandell, whose brain 
 was stored with general knowledge, as it was with medical 
 science; who was equally facile upon so many subjects; who 
 could speak with great force in the department of philosophy, 
 as it then existed ; who lectured upon chemistry, and after- 
 wards filled the chair of Physiology, and later still became an 
 excellent preacher ! Such are the men whom we had for col- 
 leagues. It is not often that we seek in the past, for the mem- 
 ories of Auld Lang Syne, for richer treasures than these." 
 
 Prof. Austin Flint, Sr., being called upon, made the fol- 
 lowing remarks : 
 
 "Mr. Chairman : I accepted the invitation to be present 
 here to-night, as you know, with a stipulation that I should 
 not be called upon for a speech. From one point of view this 
 stipulation may seem selfish ; but from another standpoint it 
 is otherwise. I have long known that after-dinner speaking 
 is not my forte, and, cognizant of my inability to do justice 
 to the occasion or my own feelings, I consider that I acted in 
 a spirit of generosity toward those here assembled. I am glad, 
 
26 COMI'LIMENTAIIV DINNER 
 
 however, to have the opportunity of expressing my thanks for 
 the invitation to be present at an assemblage which will be 
 reckoned as one of the most memorable in the medical history 
 of this country. I am also glad of the opportunity to say that 
 one of the most precious of the blessings vouchsafed to me, 
 has been the intimate and, I may add, affectionate relations 
 with the honored guest of this evening, which I have enjoyed 
 for more than a quarter of a century. I beg again to thank 
 the committee for the privilege of joining in this demonstra- 
 tion of respect for one whose labors as an author, a teacher, 
 and a practitioner have conferred honor on the profession, not 
 alone of this country, but of the world ; one whose profes- 
 sional life of over half a century is stainless, and one, whom to 
 know, is not only to admire, but to love." 
 
 At the conclusion of Prof. Flint's remarks, the Chairman 
 announced that a number of letters and telegrams had been 
 received by the Committee from gentlemen who had been in- 
 vited, but were not able to be present. He called upon Dr. 
 Mears, the Secretary, who read the following: 
 
 Gentlemen : I am confined at home in consequence of 
 injuries received from a fall on the ice, and therefore cannot 
 accept your kind invitation to be present at the dinner which 
 you propose to give to our honored friend and associate, Dr. 
 Gross. Throughout this country and in Europe his name 
 stands in the very highest rank to which our profession can 
 attain. There is no one in the country to whom I would pay 
 my warmest respects more cordially. In his dignity of man- 
 ner, his calm judgment, his skill as a surgeon, and his intel- 
 lectual culture, he demonstrates to us all the capabilities of 
 our beautiful and noble profession to bring out all the highest 
 qualities of man. 
 
 Long may he live as a bright example to all of us. 
 I am, very respectfully, yours, 
 
 Henry I. Bowditch. 
 
 To Drs. Agnew, Morton, Levis, Mears, Committee. 
 113 Boylston Street, Boston, March 31st, 1879. 
 
TO PROFESSOR S. D. GROSS. 27 
 
 New York, April 7th, 1879. 
 
 Gentlemen : It is with extreme regret that, owing to the 
 critical illness of a member of my family, I am obliged to forego 
 the pleasure of dining with you on Thursday evening next. 
 
 My personal acquaintance with Dr. Gross began some forty- 
 three years ago, when, as colleagues, we were associated in 
 the Cincinnati Medical College, Ohio. 
 
 In the Faculty were Drake, Rogers, Rives, Harrison, and 
 McDowell. They were earnest, able, and some of them bril- 
 liant. I soon became specially attracted to Dr. Gross. We 
 had together our private class of pupils. He was then an in- 
 tense worker, devoting special attention to pathological anat- 
 omy, and claimed to have a holy horror of surgery, unwilling 
 to perform even the most trivial operation. 
 
 After the Cincinnati College failed to secure its rightful 
 hospital privileges the Faculty withdrew. Dr. James Rogers 
 became the successor of Dr. Hare in the University of Penn- 
 sylvania. Drs. Drake and Gross became connected with the 
 Louisville Medical College, and I accepted the Chair of Sur- 
 gery in the College of Physicians and Surgeons in the city of 
 New York. 
 
 When consulted by Professors Caldwell and Cobb as to 
 a suitable appointment for the surgical chair in the Louisville 
 School, I had the pleasure of having my say concerning my 
 friend Gross. He was a superior anatomist, and could not 
 fail to make himself eminent in surgery. 
 
 Events have proved my prognosis to be correct. 
 
 Again, gentlemen, expressing my regret that I cannot be 
 present at the quasi golden wedding of my old friend and col- 
 league to the profession, and that I shall not have the oppor- 
 tunity of making the personal acquaintance of the distin- 
 guished successors of the generation of men that I knew in 
 Philadelphia in 1831 and '33, I am, 
 
 Yours, very truly, 
 
 Willard Parker. 
 
 To Drs. D. H. Agnew, Thos. G. Morton, R. J. Levis ; 
 J. Ewing Mears, Secretary. 
 
28 COMPLIMENTARY DINNER 
 
 New York, 43 West 32d Street, March 21st, 1879. 
 
 J. Ewing Mears, M.D. 
 
 My dear Doctor: It would give me great pleasure to- 
 be present on the occasion referred to. Dr. Gross has clone 
 honor to himself, and reflected honor upon American surgery, 
 aud it is proper that we should do honor to him while he 
 lives, and while his heart may be made warm by our love; 
 but I am sorry to say I cannot be with you, except in thought. 
 
 Please number me among his absent friends. 
 Very truly yours, 
 
 Frank H. Hamilton. 
 
 New York, April 1st, 1879. 
 
 Dr. W. H. Van Buren begs to acknowledge the honor of 
 an invitation to the complimentary dinner to Professor Gross 
 on the 10th inst., with very sincere regret that it will be im- 
 possible for him to be present. 
 
 Whilst the duty and pleasure of sharing in the compliment 
 to Professor Gross is denied him, Dr. Van Buren begs, in case 
 no better sentiment is offered from New York, to propose the 
 subjoined toast : 
 
 "Our honored chief, a veteran of the old guard in the ranks 
 with Physick, Warren, and Mott, who at this moment most 
 largely represents American surgery throughout the civilized 
 world, and whose position demonstrates that whilst the 
 specialist may attain greater renown and profit, the legitimate 
 representative of general surgery is, in our branch of the pro- 
 fession, the true nobleman." 
 
 Dr. J. Ewing Mears, Secretary, Penna. 
 
 To D. Hayes Agnew, M.D., Thomas G. Morton, M.D., 
 R. J. Levis, M.D., Committee; J. Ewing Mears, M.D., 
 
 Secretary to this Committee : 
 
 Gentlemen : I feel highly honored by the invitation from 
 you to the symposium over which you are appointed to preside 
 in honor of Professor Samuel Di Gross — to me an old and al- 
 
TO PROFESSOR S. D. GROSS. 29 
 
 ways valued friend. For twenty years and more we served 
 together with mutual efforts to promote the prosperity of Jef- 
 ferson Medical College, and that without any break in our inti- 
 macy or friendship. He has gained every distinction that the 
 medical profession can supply, and is distinguished also as 
 one of our most learned and ready and wise writers on what- 
 ever subject he has touched. 
 
 I trust you will have a glorious offering to his name, which 
 he has already made immortal. 
 
 With fervent wishes for the health and happiness of our 
 distinguished brother, and for yourselves, 
 
 I remain, ever faithfully, yours, 
 
 Joseph Pancoast. 
 
 April 3, 1879, 1030 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia. 
 
 Baltimore, April 2d, 1879. 
 J. Ewing Mears, M.D., Philadelphia. 
 
 Dear Sir : I most sincerely regret that I will be unable 
 to accept the polite invitation you sent me to the complimen- 
 tary dinner to be given to Professor S. D. Gross, but I beg 
 to assure the committee that while I lament the disappoint- 
 ment which circumstances force upon me I join most heartily 
 in doing honor to this great American surgeon, to this noble 
 and good man, to this most worthy liver of a pure life, to my 
 venerated friend. 
 
 I have the honor to be, dear sir, 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 Christopher Johnston. 
 
 University oe Virginia, April 7th, 1879. 
 Dr. D. H. Agnew and others, Committee. 
 
 Gentlemen : Having just returned home after an absence 
 of a week, I find your communication, mailed in Philadelphia 
 April 3d, inviting me to a complimentary dinner to be given 
 to Professor S. D. Gross, and requesting an early answer. 
 
30 COMPLIMENTARY DINNER 
 
 I avail myself of the earliest moment to return my ac- 
 knowledgments for the honor you have done me, and to express 
 my sincere regret that I am unable to accept the invitation. 
 Very pressing public duties, which I can neither neglect nor 
 postpone, preclude the possibility of my enjoying the privi- 
 lege which you have so kindly offered me. 
 
 Nevertheless, I beg to assure you that I shall be with you 
 in spirit, and that I cordially sympathize with you in this 
 well-merited tribute of admiration and respect to the eminent 
 surgeon whose fifty-first year in the medical profession you 
 are about to commemorate. 
 
 I am very respectfully yours, 
 
 J. L. Cabell. 
 
 Kichmond, Va., March 31st, 1879. 
 Dear Sir : Accept my thanks for the invitation to a com- 
 plimentary dinner to be given to Professor S. D. Gross, in 
 commemoration of his fifty-first year in the medical profession, 
 and my sincere regrets at being unable to be present. 
 
 It is difficult to find new honors for Dr. Gross, but he has 
 conferred so much upon his profession and upon humanity 
 generally, that he deserves all that the profession can give. 
 I never think of his goodness and greatness that I do not 
 say, from my heart, " God bless and preserve him." 
 Yours, very truly, 
 
 Hunter McGuire. 
 
 J. Ewing Mears, M.D. 
 
 Charleston, S. C, April 4th, 1879. 
 
 To Messrs. Agnew, Morton, Levis, and Mears, Com- 
 mittee. 
 Gentlemen : Your very kind and flattering invitation to 
 the complimentary dinner to be given to Professor S. D. Gross 
 has just reached me. Please accept my thanks for the honor 
 conveyed. I regret very much that circumstances will pre- 
 vent the possibility of my attending. Nothing would give 
 
TO PROFESSOR S. D. GROSS. 31 
 
 me more pleasure than to be with you in rendering honor to 
 whom honor is so largely due. There is no member of the 
 profession who should not have a high appreciation of the ser- 
 vices that have been rendered by Professor Gross. I can 
 yield to none in grateful remembrance of his valuable labors 
 and in high regard for his many virtues. May he be long 
 spared to us all, and may the wisdom that has so long come 
 with his utterances continue to yield abundant fruit ! 
 
 Please tender to him my warm congratulations, and accept, 
 gentlemen, for yourselves, the very grateful and kind regards 
 of yours fraternally, 
 
 E. A. Kinloch. 
 
 Nashville, Tenn., April 5th, 1879. 
 J. Ewing Mears, M.D., Phila., Pa. 
 
 Dear Doctor : I acknowledge the receipt of an invitation 
 to the complimentary dinner to be tendered Professor Gross on 
 the 10th inst., in honor of his fifty-first year in the profession, 
 and regret exceedingly that I cannot be present. 
 
 I can conceive of nothing that would afford me greater 
 pleasure than to add by my presence, however insignificant 
 that might be, to the appropriate tribute about to be rendered 
 to the greatest of living surgeons; and I assure you that 
 though absent in person I will be with you in spirit upon 
 that occasion. 
 
 Thanking you and your committee for the kind invitation, 
 I am, with highest regards, 
 
 Yours truly, 
 
 W. T. Briggs. 
 
 Cincinnati, April 7th, 1879. 
 J. Ewing Mears, M.D., Secretary. 
 
 Dear Sir : I have the honor to receive your card of invi- 
 tation to participate in the commemorative banquet about to 
 be given to Professor S. D. Gross. 
 
32 COMPLIMENTARY DINNER 
 
 I am very grateful to the committee for this distinction, but 
 I regret that I shall be unable to be present. I wish, how- 
 ever, to express my sense of the fittingness of your recogni- 
 tion of the long and distinguished services of Professor Gross, 
 whose eminent labors in his profession as a practitioner, author, 
 and teacher have shed such lustre on the American name — 
 growing brighter and stronger with his advancing years. 
 
 His genius, probity, and special labors entitle him justly to 
 the admiration and titles of distinction which have been ac- 
 corded to him by foreign institutions of renown. 
 
 My prayer is that he may yet have many years for the illus- 
 tration of the principles and practice of his noble art. 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 C. G. Comegys. 
 
 Telegram received at the dinner : 
 
 Cincinnati, April 6th, 1879. 
 Dr. J. Ewing Mears, Secretary. 
 
 The Medical College of Ohio, whose annual circular forty- 
 six years ago announced Samuel D. Gross, M.D., Demon- 
 strator of Anatomy, sends its heartiest congratulations to 
 America's great surgeon. 
 
 For the faculty, 
 
 W. W. Seely, M.D. 
 
 Indianapolis, April 1st, 1879. 
 
 Drs. Agnew, Morton, Levis, and others. 
 
 Gentlemen: I have the pleasure to acknowledge the re- 
 ceipt of your card of invitation to a dinner to be given to 
 Professor Gross on the 10th inst. 
 
 Being one of the few survivors of his classmates, and especi- 
 ally as having been honored by his friendship for half a cen- 
 tury, it would afford me the greatest pleasure to be present 
 
TO PROFESSOR S. D. GROSS. 33 
 
 on that very interesting occasion, and join with you in 
 doing honor to one who, by his eminent services, has con- 
 ferred such distinction upon the profession of medicine. 
 Feeble health, however, compels me to decline, with many 
 regrets, your kind invitation. 
 
 Very respectfully, 
 
 Geo. W. Mears. 
 
 St. Louis, April 2d, 1879. 
 
 Drs. Agnew, Levis, Mears, and others. 
 
 Gentlemen : I am in receipt of the much-prized invita- 
 tion to the semi-centennial dinner to be given to Professor 
 Gross. 
 
 It was my privilege to attend a course of lectures by Dr. 
 Gross thirty-five years ago. I then learned to esteem and 
 honor hira, and the lapse of time has had the effect to exalt 
 the high sentiments I then entertained. I regret that circum- 
 stances preclude the possibility of my presence. 
 
 Yours, 
 
 E. G. Gregory. 
 
 St. Louts, March 31st, 1879. 
 
 Drs. Agnew, Morton, Levis, and Mears. 
 
 Gentlemen : Your kind invitation to a dinner compli- 
 mentary to Professor S. D. Gross has been received. 
 
 Nothing would afford me more pleasure than to join with 
 my professional brethren in honoring one who has so honored 
 our profession. 
 
 No word from me could increase the love and respect of 
 all, who know him, for Professor Gross. 
 
 Regretting my inability to be present, I am, very respect- 
 fully, your obedient servant, 
 
 J. T. HODGEN. 
 5 
 
34 COMPLIMENTARY DINNER 
 
 Chicago, April 1st, 1879. 
 
 Messrs. Agnew, Morton, Levis, and Mears. 
 
 Gentlemen : Your kind invitation to join in a compli- 
 mentary dinner to be given to Professor Gross on the 10th 
 inst. is received. It is a sincere regret that I cannot be pres- 
 ent with you on that occasion. Allow me to extend, through 
 you, to your distinguished guest my hearty and cordial con- 
 gratulations. May his future years be as happy as his past 
 career has been honorable. Greater happiness cannot be de- 
 sired. 
 
 Moses Gunn. 
 
 Chicago, April 2d, 1879. 
 
 J. Ewing Mears, M.D. 
 
 Dear Sir : Accept my thanks for the kind invitation to 
 attend a complimentary dinner to be given to Professor S. D. 
 Gross in commemoration of his fifty-first year in the medical 
 profession. I sincerely regret that I cannot accept it and 
 make one of the compauy to congratulate and honor him who 
 for so many years has been steadily advancing the interests 
 and honor of our profession and of our country. 
 
 Permit me, through you and your committee, to tender to 
 Professor Gross my warmest congratulations and best wishes 
 for his future health and happiness. 
 
 Yours truly, 
 
 N. S. Davis. 
 
 Chicago, April 8th, 1879. 
 Gentlemen : My local duties prevent me from being 
 present at the dinner in honor of Professor Gross, but I beg 
 leave to transmit my thanks for the honor of the invitation, 
 and to say that I join heartily in spirit with those assembled 
 to render their tribute of regard to this truly great and noble 
 man. 
 
 Very respectfully, 
 
 Edward Andrews, M.D. 
 
TO PEOFESSOE S. D. GROSS. 35 
 
 Telegram sent to Professor Gross on the day of the dinner : 
 
 Detroit, Mich., April 10th, 1879. 
 
 Dr. S. D. Gross. 
 
 The Detroit Academy of Medicine send hearty congratula- 
 tions on this jubilee in your professional life. May years of 
 work crown with new honors one of whom America is justly 
 proud. 
 
 A. B. Lyons, 
 
 President Detroit Academy of Medicine. 
 
 Telegram received at the dinner : 
 
 San Francisco, April 10th, 1879. 
 
 The Committee of Arrangements of the Dinner Given 
 to Professor Gross. 
 
 Gentlemen : I regret that I cannot join in the festivities 
 this evening. Please present my congratulations with the 
 following toast : Here's to the health of our surgeon king, 
 may his reign be long and may he continue, as heretofore, to be 
 victorious over the enemies of our race. 
 
 H. H. Toland. 
 
 San Francisco, April 10, 1879. 
 My Dear Doctor : I am in receipt of your kind invitation 
 to be present on this evening, to take part in celebrating the 
 fifty-first year of the professional life of a distinguished father 
 in the profession — Dr. Gross. As I write this, early on 
 Thursday evening, the 10th, your clock pointing to 12, you 
 are in session, and though three thousand miles away, I am 
 with you in the spirit. As it is my fifty-first year as well, I 
 take the liberty of sitting at the side of the venerable Pro- 
 fessor, and I listen with rapt attention to his reminiscences of 
 the olden times. Around me I see a number of dear old 
 friends, and a number of the sons of such friends, who inherit 
 the name and reputation of my former comrades and who, 
 though for the most part personally unknown to me, are not 
 unknown in reputation, and who have taken the place of their 
 
o(> COMPLIMENTAEY DINNER 
 
 fathers in my affections. I feel at home in such company, 
 tor though nearly thirty years have passed since my departure 
 from Philadelphia, time has not weakened the bonds which 
 unite me with your city and your people, and particularly 
 with the medical fraternity of Philadelphia, which, I am proud 
 to say, better deserves the title of a fraternity than the med- 
 ical body of any other one of our large cities. 
 
 Your letter of invitation reached me too late for my ac- 
 knowledgment of it to reach you this evening. As I cannot, 
 therefore, address you collectively on this interesting occasion, 
 I have to beg you to convey to Professor Gross my warmest 
 desires for his continued life and health, with the special wish 
 that he will wait for me. Also, do me the favor to convey to 
 your immediate associates, and to such of my friends as may 
 be convenient to you, the sentiments of this letter. 
 
 With esteem and affection, your friend, 
 
 H. Gibbons. 
 
 Dr J. Ewing Mears, Secretary. 
 
 New Orleans, April 3d, 1879. 
 Dr. J. E. Mears, Secretary of the Committee. 
 
 Dear Sir : Accept my cordial thanks for your invitation, 
 and my profound regret that I cannot testify, by my presence, 
 how deep and heartfelt are my respect, admiration, and affec- 
 tion for Dr. Gross. 
 
 Present to him, the Ulysses and the Nestor of the medical 
 profession of America, the expression of the unlimited regard 
 and boundless esteem which I have for him as a great physi- 
 cian and a noble man. At the very hour when you will be 
 enjoying his genial company, I shall be delivering an annual 
 oration to the " Louisiana State Medical Society" — an imper- 
 ative and laborious task, which will cause me the more to de- 
 plore my deprivation of the pleasure of being your guest. 
 
 With sincere thanks to, and regard for, all the members of 
 your committee, I remain, 
 
 Yours, very truly, 
 
 Stanford E. Chaille. 
 
TO PROFESSOR S. D. GROSS. 37 
 
 New Orleans, April 2d, 1879. 
 
 To D. H. Agnew, Thomas G. Morton, R. J. Levis, and 
 J. Ewing Mears, Secretary. 
 
 Gentlemen of the Committee : Permit me to thank 
 you sincerely for your polite invitation to attend a compli- 
 mentary dinner to be given on the 10th inst. to Professor S. 
 D. Gross, commemorative of his fifty-first professional birth- 
 day, and at the same time to express my great regret that I 
 shall be unable to take advantage of your distinguished 
 courtesy. 
 
 The occasion is one which draws upon the strongest senti- 
 ment of my nature, and in contemplating this evidence of the 
 love and veneration with which my noble old master is re- 
 garded by those with whom he has been associated for the 
 past twenty-three years, I envy you the privilege of sitting 
 down with him as your guest. 
 
 Thirty-four years ago I entered his office as a private pupil, 
 and enjoyed his society almost daily for a period of more than 
 twelve years, during which time and ever since my esteem for 
 him as a man in whom there is no guile, my admiration for 
 him as a true physician, and my love for him as a personal 
 friend have continuously grown and strengthened with in- 
 creasing years. It is not needful that I should speak to you 
 of his many virtues — of the purity of his life ; of his sacred 
 regard for the marital relation ; of his tender devotion to his 
 family; of his ready sympathy with the distressed; of his 
 delicate consideration for his juniors ; of his unremitting in- 
 terest in every scheme for the advancement of medical science, 
 the prevention of disease, and the care of the infirm ; of the 
 vast benefit which he has conferred upon the profession by his 
 example no less than by his precepts ; of his unceasing labors ; 
 of his courteous demeanor toward all ; of the delightful cheer- 
 fulness of his temperament, of the light which he ever carries 
 into the darkened chambers of the sick ; or of the innumerable 
 other beautiful traits of character and admirable qualities of 
 mind which combine to make him what he is, a friend of the 
 
38 COMPLIMENTARY DINNER 
 
 young, a teacher of teachers, a model physician, an illustrious 
 citizen, a benefactor of his race. These are all as familiar to you 
 as to me, but at the mention of his name they crowd so thickly 
 upon mv attention that I cannot wholly repress their expression. 
 
 In consideration of the fact that mv early professional life 
 was immediately fashioned by his fatherly hand ; that his 
 example has ever been to me a pillar of cloud by day, and a 
 pillar of fire by night ; and that his personal confidence is 
 treasured in my heart as a jewel of priceless worth, I beg that 
 when you take your seats at table, you will allow me, by your 
 hands, to place upon his breast the accompanying simple 
 badge as a token of remembrance from his devoted pupil who 
 on this occasion can only in spirit partake of his joy. 
 
 With renewed thanks for the honor you have conferred upon 
 me, I am, very truly, your servant, 
 
 T. G. Richardson. 
 
 Letters of regret were also received from 
 Drs. O.W.Holmes, Boston, Mass. 
 
 D. H. Storer, 
 
 J. C. Warren, " " 
 
 R. M. Hodges, ......... " " 
 
 H. B. Sands, ISTew York. 
 
 Fordyce Barker, li 
 
 Thos. F. Rochester, ...... Buffalo, N. Y. 
 
 E. T. Caswell, Providence, R. I. 
 
 S. Weir Mitchell, Philadelphia. 
 
 John Ashhurst, Jr., " 
 
 Hiram Corson, Norristown, Pa. 
 
 J. L. Atlee, Lancaster, Pa. 
 
 J. K. Barnes, Surgeon-General, U. S. A. 
 
 J. S. Billings, Surgeon, U. S. A. 
 
 J. S. Davis, University of Virginia. 
 
 J. F. Harrison, University of Virginia. 
 
 L. A. Dugas, Augusta, Ga. 
 
 P. S. Conner, Cincinnati, Ohio. 
 
 Roberts Bartholow, " " 
 
 Edwin Powell, Chicago, 111. 
 
 R. O. Cowling, Louisville, Ky. 
 
TO PROFESSOR S. D. GROSS. 39 
 
 IN V J TED GUESTS PEESENT. 
 
 Prof James E. Wood, New York. 
 
 " Austin Flint, Sr., " 
 
 " Austin Flint, Jr., " 
 
 Dr. G. F. Shrady, 
 
 " N. BOZEMAN, " 
 
 Prof. A. C. Post, 
 
 Dr. W. C. Yan Bibber, Baltimore, Md. 
 
 " G. A. Otis, Washington, D. 0. 
 
 " B. Norris, 
 
 " M. J. Asch, New York. 
 
 Prof. Alan P. Smith, Baltimore, Md. 
 
 " D. W. Yandell, Louisville, Ky. 
 
 " Benjamin Silliman, New Haven, Conn. 
 
 Mr. A. IT. Gross, Philadelphia, Pa. 
 
 Dr. T. Parvin, Indianapolis, Ind. 
 
 Prof. L. A. Sayre, New York. 
 
 SUBSCEIBEBS. 
 
 Drs. D. Hayes Agnew, Philadelphia. 
 
 Harrison Allen, " 
 
 J. M. Adler, " 
 
 John Ashhurst, Jr., " 
 
 J. W. Anderson, Ardmore, Pa. 
 
 W. B. Atkinson, Philadelphia. 
 
 H. St. Clair Ash, " 
 
 AV. H. Bartles, ....... " 
 
 J. M. Barton, " 
 
 J. H. Brinton, " 
 
 C. S. Boker, 
 
 D. E, Beaver, Conshohocken,Pa. 
 
 D. W. Bland, Pottsville, Pa. 
 
 J. B. Bowen, Bridgeton, N. J. 
 
40 COMPLIMENTARY DINNER 
 
 Drs. R. A. Cleeman, Philadelphia, 
 
 James Collins, " 
 
 Aikxander Craig, Columbia, Pa. 
 
 J.S.Crawford, William sport, Pa. 
 
 J. M. Cardeza, Chrymont, Del. 
 
 J. M. DaCosta, Philadelphia. 
 
 E. J. DlTNGLISON, " 
 
 C. W. Dulles, 
 
 E. L. Duer, 
 
 W. W. Dale, Carlisle, Pa. 
 
 Emil Fischer, Philadelphia. 
 
 W. S. Forbes, 
 
 Albert Fricke, 
 
 M. S. French, ........ " 
 
 John Fay, Altoona, Pa. 
 
 S. W. Gross, Philadelphia. 
 
 F. H. GETCHELL 
 
 E. B. Gardette, 
 
 K, M. GlRYIN, 
 
 "William Goodell, 
 
 W. K. Gilbert, 
 
 James Graham, 
 
 Trail Green, Easton, Pa. 
 
 E. A. Given, Clifton, Pa. 
 
 George Hamilton, Philadelphia. 
 
 N. Hatfield, 
 
 N. L. Hatfield, 
 
 Thomas Hay, 
 
 L. D. Harlow, 
 
 P. J. IIORWITZ, 
 
 William Hunt, u 
 
 C. T. Hunter, 
 
 M. L. Herr, Lancaster, Pa. 
 
 Addinell Hewson, Philadelphia. 
 
 Joseph Hearn, 
 
 EUSH S. HUIDEKOPER 
 
 I. Minis Hays, ■ . . " 
 
 Thomas H. Helsby, Williamsport, Pa. 
 
 John H. Jamar, Elkton, Md. 
 
TO PROFESSOR S. D. GROSS. 41 
 
 Drs. John Knight, Philadelphia. 
 
 Thomas S. Kirkbride, " 
 
 I. K Kerlin, Media, Pa. 
 
 Joseph J. Kirkbride, Philadelphia. 
 
 W. W. Keen, 
 
 Henry Leaman, " 
 
 A. T. Livingston, " 
 
 J. W. Lodge, " 
 
 Morris Longstreth, " 
 
 E. J. Levis, " 
 
 J. L. Ludlow, " 
 
 J. K. Lineaweaver, Columbia, Pa. 
 
 W. R. Longshore, Hazleton, Pa. 
 
 Thomas Lyon, Williamsport, Pa. 
 
 J. Aitkin Meigs, Philadelphia. 
 
 Henry Morris, " 
 
 F. F. Maury, " 
 
 T . Gr. Morton, « 
 
 J. Forsyth Meigs, " 
 
 J. Ewing Mears, " 
 
 S. Weir Mitchell, " 
 
 M. B. Musser, " 
 
 W. H. Magill, Danville, Pa. 
 
 A. D. Markley, Hatboro', Pa. 
 
 Andrew Nebinger, Philadelphia. 
 
 John H. Packard, " 
 
 W. H. Parrish, " 
 
 W. H. Pancoast, " 
 
 Joseph Pancoast, " 
 
 J. Gr. Richardson, " 
 
 Isaac Ray, . " 
 
 T. B. Reed, 
 
 R. E. Rogers, " 
 
 J. B. Roberts, " 
 
 Charles Schaffer, i( 
 
 E. B. Shapleigh, " 
 
 Albert H. Smith, " 
 
 A. M. Shew, Middletown, Conn. 
 
 6 
 
42 COMPLIMENTARY DINNER. 
 
 Drs. E. Stewart, Philadelphia. 
 
 W. T. Taylor, . 
 
 William Thomson, " 
 
 C. H. Thomas, " 
 
 James Tyson, " 
 
 W. B. Ulrich, Chester, Pa. 
 
 W. W. Van Valzah, Philadelphia. 
 
 De F. Willard, 
 
 W. H. Warder, 
 
 D. F. Woods, 
 
 Ellerslie Wallace, " 
 
 J. C. Wilson, " 
 
 J. C. Whiteside, " 
 
 E. Wilson, 
 

 
 
 
 
 
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