While artificial painless childbirth by means of "twilight sleep" and other similar methods all have their place; nevertheless, these procedures should not lead to the neglect of those natural methods and preventive practices which aid in preparing the normal expectant mother for nature's relatively painless labor. When so much anesthesia has to be used in a normal labor, it cannot but strongly suggest that both patient and physician have neglected those common but efficient methods which contribute indirectly to lessening the pangs of child bearing. WHAT IS TWILIGHT SLEEP? "Twilight sleep" is a recent term which has become associated in the public mind with "painless labor." The reader should understand that "twilight sleep" is not a new method of obstetric anesthesia. While this method of inducing "painless labor" has been brought prominently before the public mind in recent years by much discussion and by numerous magazine articles--being often presented in such a way as sometimes to lead the uninstructed layman to infer that a new method of obstetric anesthesia had just been discovered--it has, nevertheless, been known and more or less used since 1903. Later known as the "Freiburg Method," and as the "Dammerschlaf" of Gauss, and still later popularized as "twilight sleep," this "scopolamin-morphin" method of obstetric anesthesia, has gained wide attention and acquired many zealous advocates. "Twilight sleep" is, therefore, nothing new--it is simply a revival of the old combination of _scopolamin_ and _morphin_ anesthesia. While many different methods of administering "twilight sleep" have been devised, the following general plan will serve to inform the reader sufficiently regarding the technic of this much-talked-of procedure. The scopolamin must always be fresh, although different forms of the drug are used. It tends quickly to decompose--forming a toxic by-product--and, according to some authorities, this decomposed scopolamin is responsible for many undesirable results which have attended some cases of "twilight sleep." Various forms of morphin are also used, as also is narcophin. TECHNIC OF "TWILIGHT SLEEP" The "twilight-sleep" injections are not started until the patient is in the stage of active labor. The initial injection consists of the proper dose of scopolamin and morphin (or some of their derivatives), while the patient's pupils, pulse, and respiration are carefully noted, as also are the character of the uterine contractions and the character of the fetal heart action.