This gavel was a family heirloom of Dr. John R. Clarke, Senior Director (1995-present) of the Academy.  It was donated to the Academy in December of 2015 and is now presented to Dr. Dahlia Sataloff upon her election as President (January 11, 2016). The century-old gavel is made of highly polished rosewood with a silver band containing the inscriptions. The rosewood sound block, inlaid with the seal of the Philadelphia Academy of Surgery, was donated with the gavel. The gavel was originally presented to Dr. John Welsh Croskey in 1915 for his election as President of the West Philadelphia Medical Association. Dr. Croskey was the first Professor of Ophthalmology at Temple University and the author of History of Blockley, the definitive history of the Philadelphia General Hospital. He was Dr. Clarke’s great-great uncle.