[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 158 (Tuesday, September 30, 2008)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2163]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    IN HONOR OF DR. EPHRAIM McDOWELL

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. BEN CHANDLER

                              of kentucky

                    in the house of representatives

                       Monday, September 29, 2008

  Mr. CHANDLER. Madam Speaker, Dr. Ephraim McDowell, the Father of 
Abdominal Surgery, is one of the most well-known Kentuckians and 
physicians in American history. During a year-long celebration 
continuing through the end of 2009, Danville, Kentucky and the Sixth 
Congressional District will celebrate Dr. McDowell's contributions to 
the field of medicine.
  Originally born in Virginia in 1771, Dr. McDowell's father, Samuel 
McDowell, served in the Virginia House of Burgesses. He was sent to 
Central Kentucky when Ephraim was 11 to serve as one of the first land 
court judges in the County of Kentucky.
  Dr. McDowell received his early education in Danville and then 
returned to Virginia to study medicine under Dr. Alexander Humphries. 
Recognizing his great talent, Dr. Humphries encouraged him to travel to 
the University of Edinburgh, the seat of medical learning at the time. 
He studied there for two years, returning to Danville in 1795.
  In December of 1802, Dr. McDowell married Sarah Hart Shelby, daughter 
of the first governor of Kentucky, Isaac Shelby. They had nine 
children, five of whom lived to adulthood.
  On Christmas Day in 1809, Dr. McDowell performed the world's first 
successful ovarian surgery. Mrs. Jane Todd Crawford, a 46-year-old 
Green County housewife, had been told by other physicians that she was 
pregnant with twins. Using no anesthesia, Dr. McDowell removed a 
twenty-two and one-half pound tumor. Mrs. Crawford recovered in 25 days 
and lived for 32 more years, to the age of 78.
  Throughout his career, Dr. McDowell performed many other surgeries, 
including one on future United States president, James K. Polk, who 
traveled from Tennessee to Kentucky for Dr. McDowell's expertise.
  He was also an original founder of Centre College--a private, liberal 
arts school in Danville--allowing his legacies of education and 
ingenuity to remain alive in Central Kentucky's students.
  Dr. McDowell lived until 1830. He died at his summer home, Cambus-
Kenneth, of what is now believed to be appendicitis. Mrs. McDowell 
lived out her life at the home of one of her daughters. She passed away 
in 1840.
  Dr. McDowell's residence, apothecary and office are preserved as a 
museum, the McDowell House, in Danville and are designated as a 
National Historic Landmark. This premier historical site will serve as 
a host for the year-long celebration to remember the most prominent 
surgeon west of the Alleghenies in the early 19th century.

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