Word: childbirth
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Dropped because they are outmoded are another 500 items. Mostly herbals, these included cypripedium (lady's slipper), once used as a sedative in hysteria and neuralgia; diabetes weed, and corn smut (derived from a fungus), which stimulated uterine contractions in childbirth. Carried over from edition to edition, of course: quack grass...
Synthetic Hormone. After working for many years on the mixture of powerful hormones secreted by the pituitary gland at the base of the brain, Biochemist du Vigneaud succeeded in isolating oxytocin, which stimulates the uterus contractions of childbirth and starts the flow of milk. Then he took oxytocin apart and determined its chemical structure. Final step was to make it synthetically. This was an extremely difficult job, because oxytocin is a polypeptide, a protein-like compound made of eight amino acids, and probably the most complex substance ever synthesized. But Dr. du Vigneaud's synthetic hormone passed all tests...
...maniacal energy of Bob Hope, whose timing was never better as he splutters gags like an endless string of comic firecrackers. Italy's Milly Vitale is decorative as the long-suffering wife, and the children are always on hand to trigger a succession of mildly-daring jokes about childbirth...
...only 50 categories. Explained one expert: "We want to phrase our questionnaire so that chiefs of aboriginal tribes and village medicine men can understand it-so we can get answers like: 'X. died of a bellyache, Y was killed by a lion, and Mme. Z. passed away after childbirth...
...MOMENT BEFORE THE RAIN, by Elizabeth Enright (253 pp.; Harcourt, Brace; $3.50), is a collection of 18 short stories with a sharply etched image on nearly every page. A woman emerges from childbirth feeling "like a huge sea shell washed up by the highest wave, empty but still ringing from the tides." There are trees hung with grey moss "like . . . the wigs of old witches" and an old-fashioned store that is full of "ribbon, cloth and clean middle-aged ladies: dry goods, indeed." The shining words of this gifted writer often appear on obvious and outsized mountings. The last...