Today the aim of every obstetrician is to have a healthy, happy mother and a vigorous, well-adjusted infant at the conclusion of each pregnancy. Until recently concern for the welfare of the mother has so engrossed medical thought that proportionately little attention has been paid to the fetus, but now medical and social care of women during pregnancy and confinement has advanced sufficiently to make fatal maternal complications a rarity and attention can be focused on the product of conception.