During the period 1960–1970, the post‐conceptional cerclage of the cervix as first described by Shirodkar was used in 143 patients with cervical incompetence. The majority of the patients received heavy sedation with sodium amytal and demerol postoperatively, a smaller group was treated prophylactically with alcohol intravenously, and another small group was treated with alcohol after failure of the sedation regime to prevent uterine activity. The success rate was the same in groups 1 and 2 (83%); in the cases where alcohol was given after the occurrence of uterine contractions, the success rate was 71%.