The anaesthetist and the surgeon: two medical specialists working apart together. In the 21st century this is our daily reality, but what in history caused this division of labour around the surgical patient? To answer this question the author compared the evolution of the anaesthetic specialty in Britain and Germany, because separate anaesthetists existed in Britain long before they emerged in Germany. In this book you will become re-acquainted with all innovations and notable names, usually depicted as the proponents or opponents toward anaesthetic specialization. In the end, the author describes new insights into the causes for this compartmentalization of surgery and anaesthesia rooted deeply in the surgical and hospital traditions in both countries.Johan Sebastian Pöll (1952) is anaesthetist and teacher in anaesthetics in the Hague, the Netherlands. He is a past president of the Netherlands Society for Anaesthesiology.