ARTIFICAL BABY INCUBATION

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 5, Issue 1279, 16 January 1883, Page 3

ARTIFICAL BABY INCUBATION

TterlJ&'iiot tlie slightest- reasoti' tb" believe iMt -wlion the Egyptians itxven- J ted a method;.of :aiVificialljr>hatcliing eggs they w'erd' infenced by any desire to lessen.tlio labor of hens.' Their solo objepjt . •, yjm to prate ;- Moro chickens-th'a\i the hens produced!' ' Although wo m/iy give ,a settiftg lien credit for the best possible' iutlsntious, it must be admitted that slie is ii very clumsy bird. She will tread on her eggs, and will leave more or less of them out in the cold. Besides',- lier capacity to hatch eggs is limited to her size. ' There are very, few liens who can hatch, out mow than\iidoii'u! chickens; and of coukoV 'if a'man' wishes to ; miso chickens' oil. ■a' large scale lie must supply himself-with an immense number of hens. Artificial incubution obviates all these difficulties;?:: As invented by' the Egyptians and extensively practised in. our . own (lay. eggs can to hatched at one time in a single incubator, and . Mono of these runs any risk .of being -djikeil Or chilled. Tlieinimenso) sue-, cess jvhich-has'. attended- the artificial' incubation of.chickcns -in France' re-' cently • attracted: the: 'attention"' p'f Dr Tavernieiy a learned arid ingenious physician. •He was : attached, to '/a hospital for fondlings, and although the poßition; gave. lijm an -•admirable opjftrtunity ' for. experimenting. ,wi'th : new,medicines, he was a humane 'man,' and he was unnoyed ; at the Ttfi'ge hum-, berjof fopfjlings who. died-WitlliH tliii: firsts m," months of their lifK. ! Tlie' majqrity'ofthosfe adinitted to the hosf pital weretyeak and sickly, but. in that : . respect" they did not differ from- all sorts of.French .infants', Dr Tavenier felt'that it was a reproach to medical: 4 science'thatFrench infants could' not' be cultivated with as much success, asFrench chickens; and lid resolved to try. what artificial jnciibation—if it may be - so called—would accomplish,if' applied to infants. ' ( TJib doctor constructed 'a child, incubator on precisely the model of tbe.ordwaiy chicken incubator. 'lt was a.boic covered with ii glass side, furnished with a soft woollen lied, and kept' at the temperature of 86deg. Fahrenheit by the aid of liot water. He selected as the subject of, his -first experiment a miserably made' infant, one, in, fact,, that had rashly insisted upon .beginning the, world at. an' injudiciously early period. , This.infant was placed in the incubator, provided with a;ft'ursiiig '.bottle, and kept ~in a' dark room, To the surprise of the doctor, .it ceased to cry on the "sccott'd day after it ivas placed in the incubator, and although it had previously been a jirefcernaturally sleepless child, it saiik into a deep and quiet sleep. The child remained in the incubator for about eight weeks, during which time it never once ; qried and never remained awake exceptwhen taking nourishment. It grew rapidly, and when, at the expiration of sixty days, it was removed from the incubator, it presented the appearance of a healthy infant of at least a, year old. Delighted with this success: of this experiment, Dr Taveiv nier next selected an ordinary sixmonthirold infant addicted to the usual pains ind colic, and' exhibiling the usual .fretfiilness. of French infants. The child conducted itself while in the incubator precisely as its . predecessor had done, /-Its never cried; itspent tlie whole time in sleep, and it grew as if it had made up its mind to embrace the career pf-a professional giant. After, a six weeks' star in the incubator it was removed, and weighed.' During this brief period it had'doubled its weight. It had ; 'become 4 'so strong and healthy that it ..resembled, a child three years old, and., it .could actually walk when holding- oil to a' convenient pieced of furniture, These > two • experiment's satisfied,.Vr Davemier of tiie Vast advantages of artificial child incubation; He immediately proceeded—with the permission' of the authorities of the hospital— ts. construct *. an -incubator ;of tbe capacity of four hundred'* infahts,. and in this he .placed overyonp of the threft hundred and sixty ..infants who were in the'hosptal oii Februaryloth. last. With' th'e= exception of oner who died of_ congenital hydrocephalus and another :who. was claimed by its repent ant parents, the infants were kept 'con-., tinuously .in the incubator for .-six months,' whfoi they were , removed in. consequence of having outgrown their narrow bed's. • The result will geem almost incredible .to persons' who are unfamijiar with .the reputation of ' Dr Tavernier,-and,-have not-seen tlie report made to the'- FrenclrGqvcrnruent on the subject by a. .select comittee, of last Feburary was eigljt. months and, three days—the '.young&t ' being' less than twei>;9 hours,, old, and the -fffe not more t-han-eleven months." Their' average weight' was 161b,, only .one of the entire- three hundred''and six having attained a, weight' of 321b. .-At the end of'six Vio of artificial incubation tKe average weight of 'each infant was 841b, and;there was 'not 'onfe who would'; not ■ have been supposed ty to be at: least old. In other words, six months of artificial incubatipn. did as much in the way of developing Dr Tavernier's foundling as eight'years of ordinary life would .have done. The infants were strog and healthy as well as big j they walked within a week of leaving the incubator, and most of them have since learned to talk. These" results surpassed Dr Tavernier's most enthusiastic expectations, and ; there) can be no-doubt'thai his Ostein 'of artificial, child incubation will £ ..be adopted not only in .every child's hospital in France, but in every private, family throughout the civilised worid.