[With forceps all over the world--Christian Kielland and his forceps]

The history of the obstetric forceps is a colourful chapter in the history of medicine. Several hundred obstetric forceps have been described in detail, but most of them were minor modifications of the prototypes. However, the forceps invented by the Norwegian gynaecologist Christian Kielland (1871-1941) had a considerable impact upon the obstetric world during most of the 20th century. This ingenious instrument was demonstrated in Munich in 1915 and was gradually quite extensively used nearly all over the world. However, a great deal of controversy has surrounded his forceps, also in Norway.