title: Samuel D. Gross, the Writing of American Surgical History.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To explore the details of Samuel D. Gross's achievements as America's foremost historian of medicine in the mid-nineteenth century.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  The life of Samuel D. Gross, the most renowned of the nation's surgeons in the nineteenth century, has been extensively researched and celebrated. Despite the long-standing interest in Gross's accomplishments, there is an important and influential aspect of his career that has been forgotten. Gross was the country's first surgical historian and his boosting of the popular image of the knife bearer was crucial to shaping the future of the craft, in particular surgery's rise as a respected specialty within the whole of medicine.
  
  
  METHODS
  An analysis of the published medical literature and unpublished documents relating to Samuel D. Gross and his status as the country's earliest historian of surgery.
  
  
  RESULTS
  At a time when surgery was not considered a separate branch of medicine but a mere technical mode of treatment, Gross's efforts in medical and surgical history provided a much needed boost to surgeons in their pursuit of self-confidence and self-respect.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Although Gross's accomplishments as a medical historian have been overlooked, it is undeniable that he was America's pioneer surgical historian and, as such, afforded surgeons their earliest measure of self-esteem, a critical attribute that was indispensable for the rise of surgery as a distinguished profession.
authors: Ira
authors: I
authors: Rutkow
mesh_terms: D013502:General Surgery / Q000266:history*; D049672:History, 19th Century; D066209:Medical Writing / Q000266:history*; D014481:United States