[In the light of a petroleum lamp the operation could begin. Richard Frommel (1854-1912): pioneer in treatment of ruptured extrauterine pregnancy].

Richard Frommel (1854-1912) can be called an outstanding German gynaecologist during the late 19th century. This article is intended to give a picture of his life, work, and personality. Frommel was director of the department of obstetrics and gynaecology at the university of Erlangen from 1887 to 1901. Science owes to him, amongst other contributions, an important impulse for changing the therapy of ruptured ectopic pregnancy. Up to the present day Frommel's name together with that of Johann Chiari (1817-1854), serve as eponyms for a special form of the amenorrhoea-galactorrhoea syndrome, namely, the persistent one-post partum. It remains puzzling why Frommel resigned office, when he was just 46 years old, giving up gynaecology completely only a short time later.