Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1883-01-27
SATURDAY. JANUARY 81, 1853.
A Hot Bed for Infants.

Inc immense SucCesS WHICH HIS AZ
tended the artificial incubation Of chick
ems in France recently, says the Chicago
Mail, attracted the attention OF DR..
Tavernier, q learned and ingenious ply
stefan. 10 was attached TO a hospital
for foundlings, and was annoyed at the
large number Of fonndlings 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 what artificial incuba-
ton" would accomplish # applied to in
fants. The doctor constructed Il child
incubator on precisely the model Of Oh
ordinary chicken incubator. II was a
box covered with q glass slide. furnish
ed with n soft woollen bed, and kept at
the temperture Of eighty-six degrees
Fahrenheit by the aid of hot water. He
selected as the subject Of his first expert
ment a miserably made infant, one that
had come into the world at an inju-
diciously early period. The infant was
placed in the incubator, provided with a
nursing bottle and kept in Il dark oom.
TO the surprise of the doctor, it ceased
to cry on the second day after it was
placed in the incubator, and, although
it had previously been u preferably
sleepless child it sank into a deep and
quiet sleep. The child remained in the
incubator for eight weeks, during which
time it never once cried, and never re-
NAMED awake except when taking nour
ishment. 1t grow rapidly, and when, at
the expiration Of sixty days, it was re-
moved from the incubator it presented
the appearance of a healthy infant of at
lesst a year old. Delighted with the
success Of the experiment, DIR. Tavernier
next selected All ordinary sIX-monih.-
old infant addicted to the usual pains
and collie, and exhibiting the usual fret
fitness Of French infants. This child
conducted itself while in the incubator
precisely as it's predecessor had done.
1t never cried it spent its whole time
in sleep, and it grew as if it had made
up it's mind to embrace the career Of n
professional giant. After a six weeks
stay in the incubator it WAS removed
and weighed: during this brief period
it had doubled its weight. II had be-
come SO strong and healthy that it re-
sembled a child three years old, and it
could actually walk when holding on TO
a convenient piece of furniture. These
two experiments satisfied DR.. Tavernier
Of the vast advantages Of artificial child
incubation. He Immediately proceeded,
with the admission of the authorities Of
the hospital, to construct an incubator
Of the capacity Of four hundred infants
who were in the hospital on the 9Th day
Of February last. With the exception of
one who died Of cougenital hydroccpha-
]us, and another who was claimed by its
Tepentant parents, the infants were kept
continuously in the incubator for six
months, when they were removed in
consequence Of having outgrown their
narrow beds. The result will seem al
most incredible to persons who are un-
familiar with the reputation of DR..
ldVeTIleT, anu nave not seen the report
made to the French government by Il
select committee of twelve. The aver
age age Of the infants last February was
eight months and three days-the
youngest being less than II hours, and
the oldest not oyer III months. Their
average weight was sixteen pounds, only
one Of the entire 500 having attained a
weight Of thirty-two pounds. At the
end of six months Of artificial incuba-
ton the average weight Of each infant
was twenty-four pounds, and there was
not one who would not have been sup
posed by a casual observer to be at least
three years old. In other words, six
months of artificial incubation did as
much in the way of developing DR..
Taye-nier's fonnd!ings as three years of
ordinary life would have done. The
infantswere strong and healthy, as well
as big; they walked within a week of
leaving the incubator, and most of them