Gross, Samuel D. The Anatomy, Physiology, and Diseases of the Bones and Joints. Philadelphia: John Grigg, 1830. First Edition. [12040]
Full brown calf, black leather spine title in gilt, joints rubbed with a thin split in the bottom third of the front joint, binding dark at the edges, contemporary signatures at the top of the front board in black ink, 8 3/4 x 5 1/2 inches. Additional contemporary signatures on the front end papers and title page, short tear to the edge of the ffep. [viii], [1]-389, [1] pages; 2 pp. publisher's catalogue of medical books. Tight; light to moderate foxing throughout. Good. Hardcover.
Orr, Medical Bibliography, 1089. Heirs of Hippocrates, no. 1678. "Gross, one of the best-known surgeons and teachers of his day, was one of the founders of the American Medical Association and of the American Surgical Society. He taught for a number of years at the Louisville Medical Institute before returning to the Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia as a professor of surgery."
"To those who are acquainted with the the medical literature of the United States and Great Britain, the appearance of a work on the diseases of the bones and joints cannot be surprising; to those who are not, it will be sufficient to say that this work was written because it was deemed necessary...In our own country the diseases of the bones and joints have hitherto received but little attention...To supply these deficiencies, and to furnish the student with a plain, concise, and practical digest of the most important facts and observations, are the objects of the present undertaking." - Preface.
Samuel David Gross (1805-1884), b. Easton, Pennsylvania; d, Philadelphia. He was as a child interested in medicine, and at the age of 17 he was apprenticed to a local physician. His formal training was at the Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, from which he graduated in 1828. He became the preeminent surgeon of his time. In addition to his private practice he taught at several medical colleges, in Cincinnati (1833-1840); Louisville (1840-1856); at was Professor of Surgery at his alma mater (1856-1882). His System of Surgery (1859) was widely considered to be the best treatise on the subject at the time, and was translated into several languages.
