Adolf Jarisch was born on the 15th of February 1850 in the city of Vienna, where he also studied medicine. He soon pursued a career in dermatology and venereology and, thus, joined the clinic of von Hebra, one of the founders of the famous new Vienna School of Medicine. After temporarily replacing von Hebra, Jarisch became the chief of the Department of Dermatology at the University of Innsbruck (1887). Although Adolf Jarisch was appointed chief of the dermatologic department at the University of Graz 5 years later (1892), his biggest dream, to become successor of his former teacher Ferdinand von Hebra and head the dermatological department of the Wiener Allgemeines Krankenhaus (Vienna General Hospital) did not come true. Although Adolf Jarisch is mainly known for his observations on skin reactions and a profound worsening of symptoms in syphilitic patients immediately following treatment with mercury (Jarisch–Herxheimer reaction), he authored more than 25 scientific articles and wrote a book, “Hautkrankheiten”, which was considered as the most important in German-speaking literature at the beginning of the twentieth century. The purpose of this historical article is to discuss Jarisch’s achievements in the field of dermatology based on a detailed analysis of his scientific work.