LS: This operation, bearing the honorific name appropriate for the masterpiece of obstetric surgery, is only performed in cases where the mother's pelvis is too narrow so that a natural (vaginal) delivery is not possible. In such instances the child must be removed by by caesarian section, if the mother is prepared for the risk of sacrificing her own life for that of her child. Only very few obstetricians will find themselves faced with the tragic necessity of performing this operation on living women; it is much more frequently performed on recently deceased persons when there is hope that their child might still be alive. It is in any case a dangerous operation and it is generally assumed that only a third of the women who have to undergo it survive. There are fortunate exceptions, though: there was a woman in Kiel who lived through four cesarean section between 1826 and 1836; some of her children were fortunate enough to survive too.