Modern science has at last succeeded in easing the pains of childbirth. The two American physicians Julian Maytz and Edward Holroyd, of the Philadelphia hospital, have declared that not much time will pass before the expectant mother will be able to enter the hospital and leave it after three hours at the most...
These two physicians have carried out some 263 experiments, which succeeded completely. And the mother, during this method
of delivery, is aware of everything going on around her; she can listen to the radio, read, and eat what light food she pleases, just as she can share with the doctor the delight of winning the newborn alive and thriving.
This new artificial method of delivery is not free of dangers. If it is not followed with the utmost care, it inflicts grave harm on the mother.
In these pictures which you see beside these words are some scenes from one of these experiments. Dr. Read has said the following about the easing of the pain of childbirth: 'I have spent the last seventeen years of my life trying to trace the causes of pain in the childbearing of civilized women, and to establish the proof that we can in some measure do away with these causes... Fear, tension, and pain are three evils that are not native to labor in its natural order, but which civilization has thrust upon it. And since pain, fear, and tension are a band that go together, it is possible to erase pain by driving off tension and conquering fear.'
The doctor begins by injecting the expectant mother with a solution designed to conquer pain and rest the nerves
Then he injects her with another solution that helps her in delivery. Meanwhile the doctor takes care to measure her blood pressure and the beating of her heart