Samuel Gross

February 4, 1837 (age 52)

Cincinnati, Ohio, United States

Gross served throughout the Civil War as surgeon, under Buell, Rosecrans, and Grant, and on June 11, 1865, was brevetted lieutenant-colonel of volunteers for faithful and meritorious service. He wrote several important articles embodying his surgical experiences, notably one in which he insisted that instead of relying on pressure to restrain the hemorrhage, as was the usual custom, veins should be ligated just as arteries were. On his return to Philadelphia he soon took a prominent place as a writer of papers and a debater in medical societies. He early became interested in cancer and sarcoma, both of which held his close attention throughout his professional career. He became surgeon to the Philadelphia Hospital, surgeon to the hospital of the Jefferson Medical College, and lecturer on genitourinary surgery at the Jefferson Medical College. He wrote A Practical Treatise on Tumors of the Mammary Gland (1880) which is still referred to in every treatise on the subject and the following year published another important book, A Practical Treatise on Impotence, Sterility, and Allied Disorders of the Male Sexual Organs (1881). His article on bone sarcoma ranks with that of Auguste Nelaton as a classic, and he broadened and solidified the conception of giant-cell sarcoma. With Moore of London, Banks of Liverpool, and W. S. Halsted of Baltimore he founded and developed the present- day radical operation for cancer. He was one of the unusual surgeons who are able to examine sections from tumors they have removed. Few things pleased him more than to have hours off in an afternoon that he might devote to such microscopic examination. After his father resigned the chair of surgery in Jefferson Medical College in 1882, the younger Gross became professor of the principles of surgery and clinical surgery, while his devoted friend, Dr. John H. Brinton, became professor of the practice of surgery and clinical surgery. He died at the height of his powers in the fifty- third year of his age, when he had under way a new edition of his father’s famous text-book on surgery, and a surgical treatise of his own on cancer.

Back to Profile

Photos
Works

book

A practical treatise on tumors of the mammary gland, embracing their histology, pathology, diagnosis, and treatment

(This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. T...)

A Practical Treatise On Impotence, Sterility, and Allied Disorders of the Male Sexual Organs

(This book was originally published prior to 1923, and rep...)

A Practical Treatise On the Diseases, Injuries and Malformations of the Urinary Bladder, the Prostate Gland, and the Urethra

(This book was originally published prior to 1923, and rep...)

A practical treatise on impotence, sterility and allied disorders of the male sexual organs

Autobiography, with reminiscences of his times and contemporaries: edited by Samuel W. Gross and A. Haller Gross

(This book is a replica, produced from digital images of t...)

Autobiography of Samuel D. Gross, M.D., ...: Emeritus Professor of Surgery in the Jefferson Medical College of Philadelphia. with Sketches of His Contemporaries, Volume 1

(This book was originally published prior to 1923, and rep...)

A practical treatise on impotence, sterility and allied disorders of the male sexual organs
A practical treatise on impotence, sterility and allied disorders of the male sexual organs 1883 Hardcover (Lang:- eng, Pages 219. Reprinted in 2015 with the help of...)

Samuel Weissell Gross

Edit Profile

Surgeon

Background

Samuel Weissell Gross, eldest son of Samuel David Gross and Louisa (Weissell) Gross, was born in Cincinnati, United States on February 4, 1837.

Education

Samuel Weissell Gross studied medicine for one year at Louisville, then went to Jefferson Medical College, from which he graduated in 1857.

After his graduation he became a student of anatomy, surgical pathology, and clinical surgery.

Career

Gross served throughout the Civil War as surgeon, under Buell, Rosecrans, and Grant, and on June 11, 1865, was brevetted lieutenant-colonel of volunteers for faithful and meritorious service.

He wrote several important articles embodying his surgical experiences, notably one in which he insisted that instead of relying on pressure to restrain the hemorrhage, as was the usual custom, veins should be ligated just as arteries were.

On his return to Philadelphia he soon took a prominent place as a writer of papers and a debater in medical societies.

He early became interested in cancer and sarcoma, both of which held his close attention throughout his professional career. He became surgeon to the Philadelphia Hospital, surgeon to the hospital of the Jefferson Medical College, and lecturer on genitourinary surgery at the Jefferson Medical College.

He wrote A Practical Treatise on Tumors of the Mammary Gland (1880) which is still referred to in every treatise on the subject and the following year published another important book, A Practical Treatise on Impotence, Sterility, and Allied Disorders of the Male Sexual Organs (1881).

His article on bone sarcoma ranks with that of Auguste Nelaton as a classic, and he broadened and solidified the conception of giant-cell sarcoma.

With Moore of London, Banks of Liverpool, and W. S. Halsted of Baltimore he founded and developed the present- day radical operation for cancer.

He was one of the unusual surgeons who are able to examine sections from tumors they have removed. Few things pleased him more than to have hours off in an afternoon that he might devote to such microscopic examination.

After his father resigned the chair of surgery in Jefferson Medical College in 1882, the younger Gross became professor of the principles of surgery and clinical surgery, while his devoted friend, Dr. John H. Brinton, became professor of the practice of surgery and clinical surgery.

He died at the height of his powers in the fifty- third year of his age, when he had under way a new edition of his father’s famous text-book on surgery, and a surgical treatise of his own on cancer.

Achievements

Samuel Weissell Gross wrote several important articles and books embodying his surgical experiences. He founded and developed the present-day radical operation for cancer. He was one of the first men in Philadelphia who employed antiseptic surgery. Gross was a great teacher, and like his father drew crowds to his clinics. His demonstrations of a case in which he proposed operating were beautiful and his operations were carried out with dexterity, with precision, and nearly always with success.