Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1882-10-24
Artificial Incubation.
New York Tribune.


There is not the slightest reason TO
believe that when the ancient Egyp.
tians1 invented a method Of a~rti6eially
Matching eggs they were influenced BY
any desire to lessen the labor of hens.
Their sole object was to produces more
chickens than the hens produced.
Although we may give a setting hen
credit Tor the best possible intentions,
it must be admitted that she is a very
clumsy bird. She will tread on her
eggs and will leave more or less of
them out in the cold. Besides, her
capacity to hatch eggs is limited by
her size. There are very few hens
who can hatch out more than a dozen
chickens, and, of course, if a man
wishes TO raise chickens on a large
scale he must supply himself with an
immense number Of hens. Artificial
incubation obyiates all these diff
e%ulties. As invented by the Egyptians,
and extensively p~racticed in our own
day, a thousand eggs can be hatched
at one time in a single incubator, and
not one Of these runs any risk Of being
broken or chilled.
The immense success which has
attended the artificial inclination OF
chickens in France recently attracted
the attention Of DR.. T~avernier. a
learned and ingeDius physician. He
was attached 10 a hospital for found.
lingg, and although the position gave
him an admirable opportunity for
experimenting with new medicines. he
was a humane man, and he was an
nOyed at the large number Of found
liDgs who died within the first six
months Of their life. The majority Of
those admitted 70 the hospital were
weak and sickly, but in that respect
they did not differ from the majority
Of all sorts Of French infants. DR..
Tayernier felt that it was a reproach
70 medical science that French infants
could not be cultivated with as much
success as French chickens. and be
resolved 10 try what artificial incuba.
ton If 1t may be so called-would
accomplish if applied to infants.
The Doctor constructed a child in
cubator on precisely the model of the
ordinary chicken incubator. Ii was a
box covered with a glass side furnished
with a soft wooden bed and kept at the
temperature of9Go Fahrenheit by the
aid Of hot water. He selected as tho
subject Of his first experiment a mis-.
. erably made infant, one, in fact. that
had rashly insisted upon beginning
the world at an iDjudiciously early be.
/ Rod. This infant was placed in the
incubator, provided with a nursing
. bottle, and kept 10 a dark room. ia
the surprise OF thel Doctor il ceased Il
t cry on the second day after il was
placed in the incubator, and although
a II had previously been a preternatur
4 ally sleepless child, it sank into a deer
and quiet sleep. The child remained
IN the incubator for about eiphi
, weeks, during which time it never
once cried, and never remained awake
except while taking nourishm nt Ii
grew rapidly, and when, at the expir
alton Of sixty days, il was removed
from the incubator II presented tbc
appearance Of a healthy infant Of al
least a year old.
1 Delighted with the success Of mi,
D experiment, DR.. Tavernier next se
= lected 40 ordinary six months old In
r iant addicted TO the usual rains and
collie, and exhibiting the fr~etiulness q
4 French infants. This cl.ild conducted
itself while in the incubator precisel,
0 as its predecessor had done. IL never
cried; it spent its whole time in sleep
= and il grew as il it had made up II,
a mind TO embrace the career Of a pro.
lessional giant. After six weeks stay
t in the incubator it was removed ana
weighed During this period il had
/ doubled its weight. 1t had become IA
, strong and healthy that il resembled 4
child Of three years old, and il could
actually walk when holding on TO 4
convenient piece Of furniture.
These two experiments satisfied Dr.,