Ephraim McDowell, son of a creator of the Kentucky constitution, studied medicine in this country and Scotland before returning to his Danville, KY, home in 1795 as a surgeon and teacher. His specialties were oviarotomies, bladder surgery, and hernia repairs. One of his most famous patients was future president James K. Polk, on whom McDowell performed both a bladder operation and hernia repair. McDowell's most famous case involved Jane Todd Crawford, from whom he removed a 20-pound ovarian tumor. She lived 30 more years. Of 13 operations he performed on ovarian tumors and cysts, he had eight recoveries.