ANALGESIA AND ANAESTHESIA IN LABOUR1 1Received January, 1969.

In recent years, great advances have been made in the development of new drugs and techniques for the relief of pain in the obstetric patient. Many of the older drugs, if they have not already been discarded, are in the process of being discarded at the present time. I intend to describe the individual drugs that are useful in obstetrics today and briefly mention the part that I consider “psychoprophylaxis” (if I may use this term) has to play in present-day obstetric practice