Since 1952, postgraduate courses for practising physicians and speci- alists have been given by the Medical Faculty of the University of Leiden in the Boerhaave Quarter, in which most of its clinics and laboratories are located. During these years, recent advances in a wide variety of m~dical fields and subjects have been discussed by distin- guished speakers from many countries. The steadily increasing atten- dance has shown that, as could be expected from the rapid progress of modern medicine, there is a widely felt need for this form of postgra- duate study. In 1957, therefore, the Leiden...

The course of history is never one of smooth progression. Periods of relative quietness are interrupted by periods of wars and revolution. This pattern resembles that of a river which, before flowing into the delta, has to pass countless rapids. The same holds for the development of the science of medicine. In obstetrics some of these 'revolutions' or 'rapids' consist of the introduction of conservative obstetrical treatment by Lucas Johann Boer at the beginning of the nineteenth century, the discovery of the cause of puerperal sepsis by Oliver Wendell Holmes and Semmelweiss between 1843 and...