William Halsted and Theodor Kocher: "an exquisite friendship"

William Halsted and Theodor Kocher were friends on both a professional and personal level. They greatly admired each other's surgical skills and judgment, and Halsted was a frequent visitor to Kocher in Switzerland. This is of interest in that both men have been described as introverted personalities with very few intimate acquaintances. An analysis of their personal correspondence, which has not been previously published, clearly demonstrates this unique relationship between the two reknowned surgeons.