What a blessing she had chloroform: the medical and social response to the pain of childbirth from 1800 to the present

Pt. I. Physicians and the pain of childbirth

Ch. 1. James Young Simpson and the beginning of obstetric anesthesia

Ch. 2. The opposition to obstetric anesthesia

Ch. 3. The transformation of medical practice by science

Ch. 4. John Snow's approach to anesthesia

Ch. 5. Balancing the risks of pain and anesthesia

Pt. II. Women and the pain of childbirth

Ch. 6. The social connotations of pain

Ch. 7. Pain as biological and anesthesia as necessary

Ch. 8. The American women's campaign for twilight sleep

Ch. 9. The national birthday trust fund campaign in Great Britain

Ch. 10. Grantly Dick Read and the natural childbirth movement

Pt. III. In the delivery room: physicians and women together

Ch. 11. The danger of drugs and the social value of pain

Ch. 12. Current controversy.

Pt. I. Physicians and the pain of childbirth. 1. "The head of Jove and the body of Bacchus" : James Young Simpson and the beginning of obstetric anesthesia

"A cup of Circe" : The opposition to obstetric anesthesia

3. "Bled, leeched, salivated" :The transformation of medical practice by science

4. "The queen in her confinement" : John Snow's approach to anesthesia

5. "The tender organization of the newborn" : Balancing the risks of pain and anesthesia

pt. II. Women and the pain of childbirth. 6. "The sin of our first parents" : The social connotations of pain

7. "This blessed chloroform" : Pain as biological and anesthesia as necessary

8. "There ought to be no pain" : The American women's campaign for twilight sleep

9. "Labor is pathogenic" : The national birthday trust fund campaign in Great Britain

10. "As God intended" : Grantly Dick Read and the natural childbirth movement

pt. III. In the delivery room: physicians and women together. 11. "Pain makes things valuable" : The danger of drugs and the social value of pain

12. "The greatest misery of sickness is solitude" : Current controversy.