For women having their first babies, gainful employment-at least during the first half of pregnancy-is nowadays common in all levels of society in Great Britain (Martin, 1954) . The largest series of first births to be studied in respect of work during pregnancy was taken from the sample of all babies born in England, Wales and Scotland between the third and ninth of March, 1946 (Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, 1948). These cases have since been the subject of a detailed

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... t (Douglas, 1950) in which it is shown that premature babies were unusually frequent among two groups of primigravidae: those who went out to work during the later months of pregnancy, and those who lacked domestic help. In neither group was the excessive prematurity rate attributable to maternal age, economic status, or illegitimacy. Two Scottish surveys (Ferguson and Logan, 1953; Illsley, Billewicz, and Thomson, 1953) have also examined the association between prematurity rates and work during pregnancy. In both these inquiries the prematurity rate was higher among women who followed gainful employment than among housewives, but in one (Ilsley and others, 1953) the authors concluded that the actual length of time worked had not affected birth weight. A more recent study (Martin, 1954) suggests that employment during pregnancy is not associated with risk of premature delivery. No stillbirths were included in this survey. The present study, which attempts to answer the question whether pregnant women should be encouraged to follow gainful employment, is based on 1,318 single first births notified to the administrative county of Northamptonshire during 1952. In respect of employment during pregnancy these women fall into three groups: (1) Housewives not gainfully employed (780) (2) Women gainfully employed for less than 28 weeks (285) (3) Women gainfully employed for more than 28 weeks (253) There were 55 perinatal deaths* and 89 babies who weighed less than 51 lb. at birth. * Stillbirths and neonatal deaths.