"Events prove, as the days pass, the greatness and precision of what nature does, and the danger of opposing it or hastening its work." What brings me to this saying, which man has repeated since ancient times, is the follow-ing incident:

One of my relatives went to her obstetrician, and after the exami-nation he gave her to understand that he would be taking his vacation the following week, and that he therefore had no objection to her entering the maternity hospital the next morning so that he might perform the delivery — even though nearly three weeks still remained before the natural date. And although the possibility of tampering with the date of delivery had never crossed the lady's mind, she accepted the offer out of trust in her doctor. How great was the husband's joy at the news, and his admiration for the progress of medicine, which had put an end to the anxi-ety that reigns over the household in the days before the delivery date! For it had become possible for the doctor to direct the deliv-ery, fixing the day and the hour himself, and the expectant mother was no longer at the mercy of nature. But the shock was violent after the complications that arose from tampering with the natural date of birth: the result was that my relative suffered a hemor-rhage that nearly cost her her life and the life of the newborn.

What is the nature of advanc-ing the date of birth — or, as it is called, the "directed delivery" — which takes place according to the doctor's will and the date he

appoints, not as nature intended it to be? It is known that during pregnancy the fetus rests in the womb, and at delivery the womb's muscles contract, causing pain; its shape flattens and it presses upon the fetus. Under this pressure the opening of the womb dilates, the passage widens, and the fetus is pushed outward. This process takes place

as the result of an organic transformation, occurring as soon as the hormonal balance, which has altered during pregnancy, returns to its natural state. In the "directed delivery" — as we have called it — the obstetrician who wishes to advance the date of delivery injects the expectant mother with substances that restore this hormonal balance to its natural state — and the womb does not distinguish between the natural hormonal secretion and that which reaches it by injection — so the process of delivery is set in motion at once.

But what is the wisdom of hastening nature's work, when nature has its own reasons for fixing the length of pregnancy at nine months? There is no doubt that the last month is the most miserable and wearisome of the nine: during it the fetus reaches its full size, its burden

grows heavy, and the mother's size increases visibly, so that she lives all through this month in a whirl of anxiety, pulled between two thoughts — the fear of pain and the thought of deliverance. In such a state it is hard for the mother to refuse the idea of the "rescuing" doctor who offers to put an end to all these apprehen-sions and troubles. This is apart from other considerations, which sometimes reach the point of absurdity — like that actress who does not want to lose her contract on account of her figure, or — and here is the farce of farces — the expectant mother who hastens the delivery to secure the right zodiac sign for her baby!

But must the doctor bow to all these considerations to justify resorting to tampering with the natural date of delivery? No — answers Dr. Daniel Morton, one of the leading authorities on obstetrics in the United States. In most cases the obstetrician neglects to warn the expectant mother of the dangers and troubles to which she is exposed in advancing the date of birth.

An operation of this kind requires an obstetrician of thor-ough experience, able to gauge how far the delivery date may be advanced before setting it in motion. And the expectant mother and her doctor are often mistaken in fixing the date of delivery. The slightest contrac-tion of the womb during her last month produces pain; fear seizes the mother and she hurries to her doctor, who in turn proceeds to set the delivery in motion before its time, relying on the expectant mother's own sensations. And what is the result? A spasm in the muscles of the womb, which has been forced to work before its time without being able to take up the natural course we