Morning journal and courier., 1883-01-06
Artificial Child Incubation.

The report of some remarkable expert ments in so-called artificial child incubation
 comes from France. The Glasgow liaH says that the immense success which has at tended the artificial incubation of chickens in France recently attracted the attention of Dr. Tayernier, 8 learned and ingenious phy- slcian. He was attached to hospital for
 foundlings, and was annoyed at the large number of foundlings who died within the first six months of their life The majority of those admitted to the hospital were weak
 and sickly, and he resolved to try whst tsars. tifcial incubation would accomplish if ap.
 piled to infants. The doctor constructed a
 child incubator on precisely the model of the
 ordinary chicken incubator. It was box covered with glass slide, furnished with a
 soft woolen bed, and kept at the temperature
 of S6 degrees, Fahrenheit, by the aid of hot water. He selected as the subject of his first experiment 8 miserably made infant
 one that had come into the world at an inju- riously early period. This infant was placed in the incubator, provided with a nursing
 bottle and kept in dark room. To the surprise of the doctor, it ceased to cry on the second day after it was placed in the in- cubator, and although it had previously been
 preternaturally sleepless child, it sank into deep and quiet sleep. The child remained in the incubator for about eight weeks, dur ing which time it never once cried, and never remained awake except when taking nourish- ment. It grew rapidly, and when, at the ex-
 piratioa of sixty days, it was removed from the incubator, it presented the appearance of healthy infant of at least 8 year old. De- Gghted with the success of the experiment.
 Dr. Tavernier next selected an ordinary six months old infant addicted to the usual pains and collie, and exhibiting the usual fretful
 ness of French infants This child conduct ed itself while in the incubator precisely as it's predecessor had done. It never cried, it spent it's whole time in sleep, and it grew as ho6 do fks 5,l &o career of a professional giant. After 8 six weeks stay in the incubator it was removed and weighed during this brief period it had doubled it's weight. It had become so strong and healthy that it resembled a child three years old, and it could actually walk when holding on to 8 convenient piece of furni- ture. These two experiments satisfied Dr. Tavernier of the vast advantages of artificial child incubation. He immediately proceeded, with the permission of the authorities of the hospital, to construct an incubator of the capacity of four hundred infants, and in this he placed every one of the three hundred and sixty infants who were in the hospital on the tenth day of February last. With the exception of one who died of congenital hy- drocephalus and another who claimed by it's repentant parents, the infants were kept continuously in the incubator for six months, when they were removed in conse- quence of having outgrown their narrow beds. The result will seem almost incredible to persons who are unfamiliar with the repu- tation of Dr. Tavernier, and have not seen the report made to the French government on the subject by a select committee of twelve. The average age of the infants last February was eight months and three days - the youngest being less than twelve hours old and the eldest not more than eleven months Their average weight was sixteen pounds, only one of the entire 36O having attained weight of thirty-two pounds. At the end of six months of artificial incubation the average weight of each infant was twen- ty-four pounds, and there was not one who would not have been supposed by casual observer to be at least three years old. In other words, six months of artificial incuba- ton did as much in the way of developing Dr. Taverniers foundlings three years of ordinary life would have done. The infants were strong and healthy as well as big; they walked within a week of leaving the incuba tor. and most of them have since learned to talk. These results surpassed Dr. Taver- nier's most enthusiastic expectations, and there can be no doubt that his system of artificial child incubation will be adopted not only in every child's hospital in France, but in every private family throughout the civi- Ized world.