Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-10-18
DIFFICULT OPERATION
A Surgical Triumph at the Freedman's Hos
pital.
DIR. Williams Performs Caesnrian
Operation for Second Time i'm
Short Period.

FOR the second time, SO far as is known,
there was successfully performed in the
District yesterday THAI rarest perhaps of
all surgical operations, the Caesarian sec
ton. 1t was performed, too, by the same
surgeon and at the same hospital that fig
ured in the first operation, being made by
DR.. Daniel H. Williams, the surgeon-in-
chief of Freedmen's Hospital, formerly of
Providence Hospital, Chicago, at the for
tfer institution yesterday morning in The
presence of number of well-known pny-
sicians, who had been specially invited to
be present.
The first operation, as fully reported in
The Star at the time, took place he .3th
of last Jure, and the subject in that ir-
stance, as was the case yesterday was a
colCred woman. Yesterdays operation.
| however, was much more difficult and
dangerous one tor the reason that
the case Vas complicated by the presence
II the abdominal cavity of what was
diagnosed as fibroid tumor. Hence the
operation was necessarily double one
that Of Caesarian section and hysteract-
oTy.
The patient operated on yesterday was
Annie atson, mnlatto woman, thirty
three Years Of age, married. and the moth
{. OF Two Children, the second he wing been
born, 1t was stated, two years ago Last
July she WAS attenled for peritonitis by
lrs Robert Reyburn and J. X. Wilder and
soon recovered Recently, however the
tumor made its presence known in an
alarming degree, and the woman was re-
ce.ved at the hospital for treatment y dag
ncsfS was made by Drs. Reyburn and NIL
ger prior TO her entrance in the hospital
Tor an obstructive tumor in the peivls
SGrSeoa-in-chief Williams at once decided
that the woman and her unborn child
could 1--we only through the performance.
0! the double operation. 1t was also de-
cided that it should take place as quickly
as possible, the woman's condition Icing
critical. ner pulse lowering around Ia
with a temperature of 10J. Her general
cchoition was also far from good. So the
operation was set for 10 O'Clock Yesterday
morning, and at that hour the folio wing
physicians had assembled ut the hospital
to witness it: J. Taber johnson. Robert
army; j. r. Wilder. T. s. Smith. p. q
Smith. Heiberger, Jack, Jenner. Stafford
Balloon, Warfie,d. Tyler ard others.
me aiaesthetlc was started at 1920 the
Woman ,,o pulse before anaesthesia being
10 ana weak The operation was com.
fnenced twenty minutes later At l0.,, a
eeil-formed female child. weighing seven
pounds. was removed alive and was in an
anaestnetlc condition, from the effects of
The ether administered to the mother fro.,
which it recovered in comparativeiv
short time @is
During the operation. which lasted two
hours and a half, the greater part of in
being necessarily devoted to tyinr mn
arteries and veins, the womao's nuIse ran
from 10 to $50. Three transfusions of salt
soluuon and a hyperdermic injection of
s.rychnlne were administered during the
tlhle she was on the operating table She
revived well, however. and today is resting
very easily, enjoying a practically normal
condition. " mo"
The operation OF Caesarian section so
named because. tradition SAYS J1,l:,s
Caesar came into this world through u is
not only ore of, if not the rarest of surgical
operations, some surgeons dying after
long lives of service without either having
seen or performed one, hut is also one
adopted only as last resort to saveNthe
existing and unborn life because of the
great mortality which attends it as a rule.
Indeed, it is said that ii was performed for
two hundred years without success As
has been said. the two operations perform
ed by Dr. Williams are, far as is known.
the only ones ever performed in the Dis
trict in which the mothers and children
survived. Hence, the operating surgeon of
yesterday was warmly congratulated by
the physicians present upon not only the
success OF the operation, but also upon his
good fortune in securing two such cases in
so short time. Tie mother and child in
the first operation are. by the way, well
and hearty today.