In 1874, Thomas Eakins took a second course in anatomy at Jefferson Medical College. He attended surgical and clinical lectures chaired by Professor Samuel D. Gross. Eakins painted "The Gross Clinic" to show the emotion involved in medical procedures. It appears that the doctors performing the surgery have emotionally removed themselves from the situation at hand. By eliminating the emotional aspects of the intervention, doctors can complete the task much more easily than they could have done if they had become emotionally attached to the patient. If doctors had been emotionally involved in the intervention, they would have become more prone to making mistakes while operating on the patient because they would have thought more about their feelings than about the ongoing intervention. Even though emotions are great and necessary things, sometimes trying to remove them is for the best. Another thing noticed by the viewer is the veiled woman crying next to the doctor. She is very involved in this operation, letting her emotions express themselves freely. This woman could be the patient's mother or siblings, and although she knows that the surgery was necessary to save or improve her loved one's life, it is difficult to watch. Putting emotions out in the open, as the woman did, makes it easier to deal with them. Keeping feelings bottled up inside can cause breakdowns and emotional instability. This adds an additional level of complexity to the intervention. Performing the task would require enough skill on the part of the doctor, but by mixing emotions into the equation, the work, both mental and physical, will be doubled. In the painting, Gross appears to be experiencing a varied assortment of emotions. He paused the surgery and the conference to think deeply about something. While he must keep his feelings in check, he must also be sincere for the sake of the patient's mother and the students in the surgical amphitheater. The doctor's head is placed on a dark background, making it stand out. This creates a dividing layer of emotions. This “emotional layer” divides the spectators, who have no real intention other than to observe the conference, from the actual participants involved in the intervention. The people in the foreground, whether they fight to get rid of them or choose to let them flow, are dealing with some kind of feelings.