The provision of the best possible anesthetic care to the-greatest number of patients all over the world has always been the main goal of the World Federation of Societies of Anaesthesiologists. In addition to the establishment of Regional Anesthesiology Training Centers and the organization of Regional and World Congresses, the distribution of practical monographs on some important aspects of anesthesiology were considered important for the attainment of this objective. In 1968, on the occasion of the Fourth World Congress of Anesthesiology, held in London, a monograph on "Emergency Resuscitation", compiled by the Committee on Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation, chaired by Professor HENNING POULSEN, was made available to our membership. Subsequent­ ly, this excellent monograph was translated into Spanish, Russian, Ger­ man and French and to this date over 100,000 copies of it have been distributed to anesthesiologists and other interested physicians the world over. When looking for a suitable topic for a second monograph to commem­ orate the 1972 World Congress of Anesthesiology to be held in Kyoto this September, the subject of Obstetric Analgesia and Anesthesia was the first choice of almost everyone consulted. For reasons that are hard to condone, obstetric analgesia and anesthesia has often been the step­ child among the anesthetic subspecialties.