Harding, a New York freelance, has included 500 entries in her book describing the advances in the treatment of disease and the understanding of human health. The developments she cites cover a wide range. For example, she notes that the first ovariotomy was the removal of a 22-pound tumor from the ovary of Jane Todd Crawford by Dr. Ephraim McDowell in 1809, before the days of antisepsis or anesthesia.