Dr. Ephraim McDowell, Frontier Surgeon A Chatauqua Performance

On Christmas Day, 1809, 1,000 miles from the nearest hospital and 35 years before the discovery of anesthesia, Dr. Ephraim McDowell removed a 22 pound ovarian tumor from the abdomen of a 46 year old woman. It was the world's first ovariotomy and it eventually brought McDowell worldwide acclaim as the father of abdominal surgery. The patient, Jane Todd Crawford, had ridden 3 days on horseback to reach McDowell's home in Danville, Kentucky, to have the operation. The medical authorities of the day were convinced that opening the abdomen meant certain death, so McDowell was far from sure that the surgery would succeed. He told Crawford he would proceed only if she, "thought herself prepared to die". She said she was ready, but they needn't have worried. Mrs. Crawford came through with flying colors nad in less than a month was on her way home to Green County.