The significance of Eiselsberg and the Viennese school of surgery for the development of reconstructive surgery in Europe.

The development of surgery in the second half of the nineteenth century was strongly influenced by the introduction of anaesthesia, asepsis and, last but not least, scientific experimentation. Outstanding in the last respect were the German surgeon Theodor Billroth and his pupils in Vienna. One of them, Anton Freiherr von Eiselsberg, became the spiritual father of the largest surgical school ever founded in Europe. He showed a special interest in plastic surgery. As Eiselsberg started his professorial career in Holland at the University of Utrecht, his relationship to Dutch surgical history has particular significance.