The New Jersey State Board of Medical Examiners have authority to regulate the practice of midwives in that State. Among their regulations is the following:
"That you shall not prescribe, advise or give any drug or medicine, or other agency—excepting possibly some preparation of ergot which, however, must never be given before the birth of the head of the infant or a cathartic on the second or third day after delivery—to a lying-in-woman or to the infant, or to any other person or persons, under penalty of not only losing this license but also of prosecution under this Midwifery Law as well as under the Medical Law of 1890."
The possible exception of some form of ergot will, we judge, be a hazardous experiment with the midwives of New Jersey unless they are much better than those found elsewhere. If those midwives may be intrusted with ergot, why not let