Dr. Ephraim McDowell, 'father of ovariotomy' : his life and his work / by August Schachner.
- August Schachner
- Date:
- [1913]
Licence: In copyright
Credit: Dr. Ephraim McDowell, 'father of ovariotomy' : his life and his work / by August Schachner. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.
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![In the spring of 1912 the writer started a movement to pre- [158] serve and memorialize the house in which McDowell lived and performed the ovariotomy. The importance of rescuing this historic landmark situated in what is now the questionable quarter of Danville, and used as a negro boarding house, is too plain to require more than mere mention. With this end in view, the writer addressed the Kentucky State Federation of Women’s Clubs at their annual meeting at Mammoth Cave, May 29, 1912, and urged them in view of being the first beneficiaries of McDowell’s work, to unite in saving this structure. He said in part: If benefits to the human race are to be the standard by which we measure the usefulness and importance of a life, I am prepared to defend the statement that the importance of Dr. Ephraim McDowell’s life overshadows that of either Washington or Lincoln, and that the house in Danville in which the ovariotomy was performed, should be more sacred not only to an American, but to the entire human race, than any other structure upon the whole American continent. It has been fashionable for centuries to ignore the real bene- factors of the human race, and to rush madly forward with monuments and memorials to statesmen and especially military leaders. This is a remnant of feudalism that is still in us. It is a legacy from the time when might was right even in smaller matters, as it still is to a degree in international matters, when we, more fondly than we do to-day, worshipped power and pomp at the expense of equity and reason. I do not wish to be understood as detracting from the statesman and the warrior, but I do wish to point out the benefits of the work of such a man as Ephraim McDowell as compared with the very greatest statesmen and military leaders. The moulding of a nation, the advancement of a particular people by a wise statesman, and the leadership of a successful army in a just cause, are matters that do not admit of any division of opinion. Since, however, many statesmen are forcible but not wise, and many military leaders brave and daring in an unjust cause, it is obvious that both harm and good are equally dispensed by these two popular idols. And even when the statesman is wise, and the military leader is fighting a just cause, they affect but one people and that they affect perhaps for one period, quite enough to justify their activities I will admit, as we all must. Compare, however, this with Ephraim McDowell, whose life has affected all people. When he, for the first time on December 13,](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b22440951_0017.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
