D. 



REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON OBSTETRICS. 



The Committee on Obstetrics, ivhose duty it is u to prepare a report on 

 all the important improvements in the obstetric art, and in the ma- 

 nagement of diseases peculiar to women and children, effected in 

 America during the past year" beg leave to offer the folio icing 



REPORT. 



In relation to the management of diseases peculiar to women and 

 children, little that is new and important has been developed in this 

 country during the past year. 



In midwifery proper, an agent has been introduced, which, if a 

 tithe of the commendations bestowed upon it by some of its enthu- 

 siastic advocates can be relied upon, imperatively demands careful 

 investigation and farther trial. And as the merit, whatever it be, 

 of the discovery and introduction into practice of this potent reme- 

 dial agent, belongs exclusively and undeniably to this country, there 

 is a double propriety in its examination on the present occasion. 

 Your committee have endeavoured to approach this important and 

 earnestly disputed topic with that freedom from bias and prejudice 

 which should always guide us in our researches after truth. Their 

 sincere and ardent desire has been to arrive at such conclusions and 

 such only, as will stand the test of time and experience, and will 

 subserve the best interests of humanity and science. 



They have read with care, and examined with caution, nearly all 

 that has been written on the subject, and some of their number 

 have experimented in their own practice to a considerable extent — 

 and the results to which they have come, they think, are justified by 

 a careful analysis of the experience of others as well as their own. 

 These results, and the reasons on which they are founded, they will 

 briefly state. 



They do not think it desirable in the present inquiry, to enter 

 into any extended examination of the modus operandi of the ane- 

 sthetic agent in producing its peculiar effects: whether its action is 

 primarily upon the vascular or the nervous system, or in what order 

 the different classes of nerves are brought under its influence. It 



