This is the first of two volumes devoted to the mutual interests of obstetrics and anesthesiology. A portion of the second volume is, however, already in print as Obstetric Complications under the imprimatur of F. A. Davis' "Clinical Anesthesia Series" (1965). In the author's own words, volume 1 contains sections on the physiology and psychology of pregnancy and parturition; and placental, fetal, and neonatal physiology and pharmacology; indications, advantages, disadvantages, and complications of sedatives, analgesics, anesthetics, and other agents used during parturition—the pharmacology of these drugs and a detailed description of the techniques of administration. Breathless and somewhat over-whelmed, I pause to note further that this is intended, "to serve as a textbook and reference work for anesthesiologists, anesthesia residents, nurse anesthetists, obstetricians, obstetric residents, general practitioners, obstetric nurses, pediatricians and others involved in the care of the parturient and her newborn."
A prodigious enterprise such as this, about ten