The reputation of surgery is not only based on manual skill, though in the light of history the surgeon belonged rather to craft-gilds than to hippocratism. Not until the evolution of the whole medical science a new status of the surgeon was created. Today in a high degree he is a devoted servant to science, despite the priority of manual skill. An artist is praised for his brilliant abilities to manage problems by intuition, to improvise successfully, thus the surgeon can be designated as of congenial spirits. Examples describing the activities at the 2nd Surgical Clinic of the University of Vienna, illustrate these three virtues of surgery: manual skill, artistic work, scientific attitude. In this sense students as well as graduates should receive their education. In future the surgeon himself must guarantee by extreme personal engagement that this ideal conception of the surgical professional, criticising the methods of scholastic medicine, is maintained and can bear up against organization obstacles.