Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-07-10
G AE S A R FAN SECTION
Difficult and Rare Operation Performed at
Preedmen's Hospital.
Delivery Safely Accomplished-The
Mother n ColOred Dwarf, the
Father White, but Unknown.

There was successfully performed at the
Freedmen's Hospital several days ago an
operation which is regarded by the medi-
cal profession as not only one of the rarest
but also one of the most hazardous-the
Caesarean section. 1t Is an operation which
is performed only as a last resort, when
the life Of both the mother and child is at
stake, and one which is the ambition of
every surgeon to successfully accomplish
But so rare Is 1t that Instances are fire.
quent. 1t is claimed, where surgeons pass
away without ever having even seen it per-
formed.
Inc circumstances attending the opera
ton at the Freedmens Hospital made it
unusually interesting, and one particularly
SO 10 the medical profession. About 4:3O
o CLOCK the afternoon of Monday, June g.
there was brought to the hospital a young
coiored woman. who was said to have serv-
ed as a childs nurse. By the young phy-
stefan who received the girl, for she is but
twenty-five years of age, 1t was seen thst
sne was suHering from commissions at first
supposed to have resulted from dropsical
ailment.
True Condition Discovered.
The patient was placed in bed, and short
~ a1terward the attention of DR.. Daniel H,
"lliiams. the surgeou-n- chief of the hos
pitai' was called to the case. He quickly
ascertalned that the commissions were due
10 diseased Kidneys, and that in the life of
MS patient was soon to occur that inter.
esting event which crowns woman's agony
Such cases are daily, almost hourly events
at the hospital, but In this particular in
stance the experienced surgeon was as
tonished when he discovered the suhiect
to Re a deformed dwarf of but fortv.two
lncnes IN height, weighing not more than
sesenty-nVe pounds, black as the blacklist
and ignorant.
me girls dwarfed stature and her other
WISE ueiormed condition made her case one
OF great gravity and the physician quickly
reahzed that only a resort to the most
heroic and daring operations would save
tne NE trembling before him and that
soon 10 be- The Caesarean operation de-
cided upon. DR.. Williams invited DR.. ].
RAZOR Johnson. consulting member of
the hospital staff; Drs VIM. H. Warfield
InomSs smith and Robert Tyler to be
others of the hospital staff the girl was
placed on the operating table about two
hours and half after she reached the in
stitution. ~ "
The Thomas Method.
Inc semi-unconscious state of the patient
resulting from the commissions she SUI
fered made 1t unnecessary to use more
than a few drops of ether to enable her
to undergo the ordeal of the operation
There are several methods resorted tn in
performing the Caesarean operation and
tnat known as Thomas was adopted
WITHIN forty minutes from the time the
girl entered the operating room she was
pack IN ped, fast recovering from the re-
sulting shock.
dition of the girl was further Increased
when the father of the child was. by its
long, straight hair, its fair skin and deem
blue eyes, disclosed to be white man.
q h9 " iS RI
forced birth Z pounds and IA ounces 1t is
a well-developed, handsomely formed child
and in perfect health.
The diminutive mother is fast recovering
from the effects of the operation, and will
soon be able to leave the hospital. She is
unmarried, 1t is hardly necessary to state
and has been here but few years, SO she
states, having been born on BIackistone's
Island. Virginia. She has not disclosed the
identity OF the father of the child, but
doubtless will before she leaves the hos
pital. The little one will in all probability
be placed in some charitable institution AZ
its mother Is neither physically nor finan-
cially able to support and care for it, and
Its father, whoever he may be, will prob
ably refuse to acknowledge 1t or his re-
sponsibility in the matter.
Operation Centuries Old.
The Caesarean operation is one centuries
old. and is SO popularity known because
through 1t julius Caesar is said to have
been ushered into this world. There are
probably as many as six different ways of
accomplishing it. and 1t is so rare, even in
this land of daring and successful surgery
that it is claimed no reliable percentage of
mortality is obtainable.
In Vienna, Godson declares, 1t was I'M
dertaken for one hundred years without
single success.
At the famous French hospital the Ma
ternity, of Paris, a similar story is told.
the same being true in England for the
eighteenth and greater part of the present
century. 1t was first performed only after
the death of the mother had occurred.
of Navarro. are also said to have come
into existence through it's performance.
Blood poisoning. hemorrhage and shock
are the features of the operation which
make 1t so dangerous. 1t is, perhaps, per-
formed in this country more frequently
than in any other. and it is claimed that
here ope-fifth of the SuhjectS racoyor