Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1883-01-04
Artificial Child Incubation.

The report of some remarkable eN- |
periments in so-called artificial child. !
incubation comes from France. The |
Glasgow Mail says that the immense !
success which has attended the arti- !
tioiai incubation of chickens in France I
recently attracted the attention of DIR. !
Tavernier, n learned and ingenious !
physician. He was attached to hos !
pital for foundlings, and was annoyed |
at the large number Of toundlings who /
died within the first six months OF
their lie. The majority of those adj /
mitted to the hospital We're weak and
sicSly, and he resolved to try
what artificial incubation would
accomplish If applied to in /
tants. The doctor constructed
child incubator on precisely
the model of the ordinary chicken in-
cubator 1T was box covered with
glass slide, furnished with soft
WOODEN bed, and kept at the tempera-
ture of eighty-six degrees Fahrenheit,
by the aid OF hot water. He selected
rs the subject of his first experiment a
| miseahly made infant, one that had
come into the world at an injudici-
ously early period. This infant was
! placed in the incubator, provided with
nursing bottle, and kept in dark
room. To the surprise of the doctor,
| 1t ceased to cry on the second day after
it was placed in the incub, tor, and al
though it had previously b, en- prefer
naturally sleepless child, il sun into a
deep and quiet sleep. The child re-
mained in the incubator for about eight
weeks, during which time 1t never
once cried, and never remained awake
except when taking nourishment. II
al Il tl....
! ton of sixty days, il was removed
appearance of Il healthy infant of at
least year old Delighted with the
success of the experiment DR.. Tav-
ernier next selected an ordinary six
months-old infant ad iicted to the
usual pains and collie and exhibiting
the usual fretfulness of French infants.
This child conducted ii self while in
! the incubator precisely as its predeces-
| sor had done. 1t never cried; il spent
| its whole time in sleep, and
il grew as if il had made up
| its mind 70 embrace the career
| Of a giant. After a six weeks stay
| in the incubator it was removed and
! weighed; during this brief period it
I had doubled its wei.ht. 1t had be-
J come SO strong and healthy that il re-
senb ed Guild three years old and il
could actually walk when holding on
! to convenient piec4 of furniture.
4 These two experiments satisfied Dr.
/ ravernier of the vast advantages of
artificial child incubation. He imme-
| diately proceeded, with thepermission
! OF the authorities of the hospital, to
! construct an incubator of the capacity
/ of 480 infants, and in this ne placed
1 every one OF the 500 infants who were
/ i'm the hospital on the 10th day Of Feb
ruary last. With the exception of one,
! who died of conSeuital hydro-
/ cephalus, and another who
! was claimed by its repentant
] parents, the infants were kept
/ continuously in the Incubator for six
months. when they were removed in
consequence OF having ouigrown their
narrow bed The result will seem al
most incredible 10 persons who are un-
! familiar with the reputation of Or.
| Tavernier, and have not seen the re-
! port made to the French government
! on the subject 10y Ii select committee of
/ twelve. The average age of the in-
/ iants last February was months and
| 3 days-the yo INCEST being less than -
! hours cid, and the eldest not more than
IL months. Their average weight was
sixteen pounds. on y one Of the entire
$50 having attained weight Of thirty
two pounds. At the end Of six months
of incubation inc average weight
of each inant was twenty-four
pounds, and there was not one who
would not have been supposed by a
casual observer to beat least years
old. In other words, six months of
artificial incubation did as much in
the way of developing Or. Tavernier's
foundlings as three years OF ordinary
life would have done, The infants
were strong and healthy as well as big;
they walked within week OF leaving
the incubator, and most OF them
have since learned to talk. These re-
suits surpassed DR.. Tayernier's most
enthusiastic expectations, and there
can be no doubt that his system Of ar
tificial child incubation will be
adopted not only in every child,s
hospital in Fran e. but in every pri-
waite family throughout the civilized
world. --SdnitGsy Nel0S.
r..