Before von Langenbeck’s day much stress was laid in Germany upon the importance of anatomy in its relationship to the science of surgery. It was a common practice in the medical schools, for example, to combine in one the two chairs of anatomy and surgery, and, imbued with the idea that this viewpoint was the correct one for them to adopt, the leaders in surgery, with few exceptions, strove to make advances in their branch of knowledge by cultivating energetically the study of anatomy. The efforts of von Langenbeck and his followers, on the other hand, were directed to giving new life to surgery by calling to its aid physiology, pathological anatomy and pathological histology, as well as experiments upon animals, sources of information which before von Langenbeck’s time had been very little utilized by the surgeons. Korn, in his comments upon the preceding statement, begs the reader not to interpret it as signifying that von Langenbeck permitted himself to neglect anatomy in the slightest degree. Quite the contrary, he continued to insist upon it that a knowledge of anatomy was the most useful foundation upon which a surgeon could build. As corroborative evidence of the correctness of Korn’s statement I will quote here the remarks made by an English physician who visited Goettingen in 1818 (London Quarterly Journal of Foreign Medicine and Surgery, Vol. 1, 1818–1819):— We were pleased in observing the great attention which Professor von Langenbeck paid in these clinical exercises to relative anatomy. He omitted no opportunity of impressing on the students that the mere dissection of bodies could never make them good anatomists, and that, as surgery without the knowledge of anatomy would be a dangerous art, so anatomy without a constant reference and application to the living body would be vain and futile.... The foundation of the surgical hospital at Goettingen is entirely due to Professor von Langenbeck. In 1807, at his representations, a certain sum was appropriated to its support from the Cloister-fund. In 1808 the professor built the present hospital, which is still his own property, the Hanoverian Government paying him a yearly rent for it. The beautiful collection of surgical instruments also belongs to the professor.... The whole as it now (1818) stands is undoubtedly the first in Germany. It comprises all instruments that have ever been used in surgery from the earliest days to the present time. Professor von Langenbeck, as a practical surgeon, is unrivalled in Germany. We have seldom seen a man so enthusiastically devoted to any pursuit, or who brought to the profession of surgery more capability of excelling in it.... As an operator, he is unrivalled in his own country, and we are not aware that he is excelled in any. He is clear and decisive in his judgments.