McDowell
130
McDowell
and two years his partner, tells us that
up to 1S20 his uncle had done seven
ovariotomies, six of which he witnessed,
and that six of the seven were successful.
Dr. Alban G. Smith succeeded Dr. Wil-
liam A. McDowell as partner of Dr. Eph-
raim McDowell, and while with him Dr.
Smith himself twice performed ovari-
tomy. The younger McDowell states
later that he knew of his uncle having
during his career operated thirteen times,
exclusive of the two cases Dr. Smith oper-
ated upon, and of the thirteen eight re-
covered. McDowell first operated in
1809; in July, 1821, Dr. Nathan Smith,
professor of surgery in Yale College, per-
formed ovariotomy at Norwich, Connecti-
cut. Dr. Smith had never heard of Mc-
Dowell's work and operated in an entire-
ly original way. Dr. Alban G. Smith,
previously mentioned, reported his first
operation (May 23, 1823) in the " North
American Medical and Surgical Journal,
for January, 1826.
\Mien we think of one living on the border of Western civilization, in a Uttle town of five hundred inhabitants, far removed from the opportunity of con- sultation with anyone whose opinion might be of value, and nearly a thousand miles from the nearest hospital or dissect- ing room, performing a new and untried operation of such magnitude upon the living, before the days of anesthesia, with a full sense of the responsibility and danger, without skilled assistants, our admiration for McDowell's coiu-age and skill rises to its fuU height.
He possessed an excellent medical li- brary for his day and locahty, and was in the habit of purchasing most of the prin- cipal new works on medicine. While having a fair knowledge of the classics he gave most of his professional leisure to history and belles-lettres.
At the age of thirty-one, Dr. McDowell married Sarah, the daughter of Ken- tucky's famous "war governor," Isaac Shelby, with whom he lived happily, and had a family of six children, two sons, and four daughters, only three of these surviving him. Mrs. McDowell was his
survivor by ten years. In the later
years of his life he removed from
the village to a country home, where he
spent the later years of his life, still con-
tinuing his professional work. He died
on the twentieth day of June, 1830, after
a brief illness.
Careful reflection upon the operative methods of the "Father of Ovariotomy," as I have endeavored to portray them will demonstrate that, except as to asep- sis, but little improvement has been made upon his methods as orginally conceived and carried out.
L. S. M.
Gross, S. D. Origin of ovariotomy; brief
sketch of the life and services of the late
Ephraim McDowell. Tr. Ky. M. Soc, 1852,
Louisville, 1853, ii.
Gross, S. D. Memorial oration in honor of Eph. McDowell, "the father of ovariotomy," Louisville, 1879.
Chesney, J. P. Interesting incidents in the private life of Eph. McDowell. Cincin. M. Report., 1S70, iii.
Dedication of the monument to Ephraim McDowell. Cincin. Lancet and Clinic, 1879, n. s., ii.
Gross, S. D. Biography of Ephraim Mc- Dowell in his "Lives of eminent American Physicians," Phila., 1861. Jackson, J. B. Biographical sketch of Eph- raim McDowell. Richmond and Louisville M. J., Louisville, 187.3, xvi (port.) Letcher, J. H. Memoir of Ephraim Mc- Dowell. Tr. McDowell M. Soc, Evansville, Ind., 1875.
McMurtry, L. S. Necrology. Tr. Amer. Med. Assoc, Phila., 1878, xxix. Monument to Ephraim McDowell. Its dedi- cation in Danville, Ky., on May 16, oration by Samuel D. Gross. Med. Record, N. Y., 1879, XV.
Mary Y. Ridenbaugh. The Biography of Ephriam McDowell, together with valuable scientific treatises, etc., 8°, New York, 1890. Biographical sketch. Columbus M. J., 1902. Heroes of Medicine, Ephraim McDowell. Pract., London, 1897, Iviii (port.). W. L. Lowder. Ephraim McDowell. Med. and Surg. Monitor, Indianapolis, 1901, iv. The passing of the historic McDowell building at Danville, Ky. Physician and Surgeon, Detroit and Ann Arbor, 1902, xxiv.
McMurtry, L. S. Memorial address. Tr. Southern Surgical and Gynecological Assoc, 1893, Phila., 1894, vi; also, Med. News, Phila., 1894, Ixiv.
