Brain damage can be caused in many ways. I have been concerned with that resulting from a deficient supply of oxygen during parturition, ie, with asphyxia neonatorum. The magnitude of the role of this as a killing factor has not been determined, although we well know that it can and does maim a not insignificant number of infants every year. Man, it seems, among all the higher animals, has not yet learned how to manage birth without risk of asphyxia. The United States boasts of being the richest and most powerful nation on earth. People of many lands come to our shores to learn our technology and to profit from our developments in medical science. Nevertheless, there are some things in which we lag shamefully behind other countries. Our infant mortality is distressingly high. The number of deaths in infants less than 1 year of age has declined only slightly