Here, surgeons crowd around the anesthetized patient in their frock coats—this is just prior to the adoption of a hygienic surgical environment (see asepsis). "The Gross Clinic" is thus often contrasted with Eakins's later painting "The Agnew Clinic" (1889), which depicts a cleaner, brighter, surgical theater, with the participants in "white coats". In comparing the two, the advance in understanding of the prevention of infection is seen. Another noteworthy difference in the later painting is the presence of a professional nurse, Mary Clymer, in the operating theater.