Abstract
It has now been generally accepted that the use of oxytocic agents for the control of post-partum hemorrhage is indicated in the practice of good obstetrics. Hamilton, Higgins, and Alsop (1) have stated! | "The use of oxytocic agents in the third stage of labor has become so firmly established in obstetrical practice that any attendant question is largely a matter of decision as to the drug of choice and the timing of its administration." | However, within recent years there has been a tendency or trend to use oxytocics intravenously to accelerate the third stage of labor and henoe to reduce the loss of blood in the third stage. Ehrenberg, Robbins and Haugen (2) used powdered ergot for induction in a series of one hundred and eighty four patients end claimed that there was no maternal mortality and no increase in maternal morbidity. Antoine (3) employed ergonovine for induction even in those oases in which quinine and pituitary extract failed, and reported excellent results. Farber (4) and Brougher (5) have made studies using Methergine and report it to be an effective and a safe agent for the induction of labor. Thus, oxytocics have not only been given in the third stage of labor but some obstetricians have gone even farther and given them with the crowning of the head in the second stage or with the delivery of the anterior shoulder, those advancements are open to arguement but it is not the purpose of this paper to discuss this phase of the use of oxytocics.