To the Editor:— Your subscribers should not be left supposing that the review of John J. Bonica's Principles and Practice of Obstetric Analgesia and Anesthesia ( 202 :249, 1967) represents, by any chance, the opinions of physicians actually giving obstetric anesthesia. This work is a scholarly, comprehensive, and up-to-date presentation of current principles and available techniques; it should serve for years as a reference for anesthesiologists and obstetricians seriously interested in pain relief for the mother. Admittedly, it does not offer a "cookbook" presentation of how to manage each situation, and one must agree with the reviewer that in the 15 or 20 minutes before a complicated vaginal delivery or an emergency cesarian section, it would probably be of little practical value. The inference is frightening, namely, that a handbook for this type of obstetric anesthesia personnel would be valuable rather than hazardous. The review should be evaluated in the perspective