operation by which his name has come to be the most resounding in
all surgery. This is a much more difficult task than at first it might
seem to be, for McDowell made no sketch of himself, nor have his
brothers or his children left us any record of his life. Even his early
biographers failed to gather from his surviving friends those personal
recollections of the man which would now be of such exceeding interest
to us all. An authentic life-size portrait of Ephraim McDowell, as he
was seen in his daily walk among men, can not now be made. The
materials are too scant; the time to collect them has gone by. A
profile, a mere outline drawing, is all that is possible to-day. The
picture I have attempted, therefore, will be found deficient in many
details which have passed into general acceptance.

It is known that he came of a sturdy stock, his blood being especially
rich in two of the best crosses--the Scotch-Irish. His great-grandfather
rebelled against the hierarchy of his time, and enlisted as a Covenanter
under the banner of James I. After honorable service, he laid down his
arms, gathered his family together, and came to America. It was in honor
of this ancestor that the subject of the present sketch was named.

The maiden name of his mother was McClung. She was a member of a
distinguished family of Virginia. McDowell was born in Rockbridge
County, Virginia, on November 11, 1771. He was the ninth of twelve
children. His father, Samuel McDowell, was a man of note and influence
in the State, and was honored with many positions of trust. In 1773 he
removed with his family to Kentucky, settling near Danville. He was made
judge of the District Court of Kentucky, and took part in organizing the
first court ever formed in the State. He lived to see his son
confessedly the foremost surgeon south of the Blue Ridge. But it was
not given to eyes of that day to see that the achievements of the
village operator had illuminated all the work which has since been done
in the abdominal cavity, that one had grown up and toiled in their
midst,

"Whose influence ineffable is borne
Round the great globe to cheerless souls that yearned
In darkness for this answer to their needs."

Ephraim's early education was gotten at the school of the town in which
he lived. He completed his school studies at an institution of somewhat
higher pretentions, situated in a county near by. No anecdotes are
preserved of his childhood. During h