In his day Gross was the most famous surgeon in the U.S.A. He was for a time Professor of General Anatomy, Physiology, and Pathological Anatomy at Cincinnati Medical College and while there published his Elements, the first exhaustive, systematic study of pathological anatomy in English. Gross was the first to precede each description of the morbid anatomy of an organ with an account of its healthy color, weight, size and consistence founded on original research. The second edition of 1845 was considerably revised and enlarged, while the third edition of 1857 was abridged. Horner’s book (No. 2287) was the only important work on pathology to precede it in America.