The record-union., 1894-06-04
INCUBA4ED INFANTS.
Sciences Substitute for Nature Do
ing Wonders.
Lives of Over One Hundred Children
Saved in New York by
IncubatorS.

"He was incubated," the proud mother
Of some great man of the future will say
of her son. For the baby incubator is a
success and has come to stay. The doc
tors declare that incubators have already
been the means of saving the lives of 100
infants in New York. In fact, the new
born baby who under old-fashloned
methods has no chance of living, now. II
put in an incubator, stands about an even
chance of becoming healthy, Growing
youngster. BABY incubators are now In
use in two hospitals in the city, the POST
Graduate Hospital, on East twentieth
street, and the Maternity Hospital OF the
Women's Medical College, on East Fif-
teenth street.
A bright young woman, with sweet
face and modest ways, is in charge of the
babies at the Maternity Hospital. There
is room in the third story there. room
with great window which lets i'll plenty
of light and overlooks the tops of the
trees in otuyyesant Park. Around the
walls are four cribs OF from ten to twelve
feet in length. In two of these there
were three little Jumps You discover
! that these Jumps are alive and breathing.
They are very small and delicate and
dainty and pink. They are babies sure
enough-any man could tell that, but no.
body would ever think they were incu-
! batOr-ralSed.
A cosier place for baby could not be
imagined. Here the embryo citizens
have every opportunity the world affords
to hold on To life and 10 grow healthy and
! strong, while in the tene.nents where
their parents live the lives OF the irail
little things would have been snutfed out
in less than day after they first saw the
light.
The incubator is used only for prema-
turely born babies and for babies which
are SO weak that the wise young women
doctors are pretty sure they will die if
| left in the open air. Strangely enough
the incu bator is shaped something like "a
coffin, while its particular aim is to keep
babies out of collins. There are two
| kinds OF baby incubators, and they differ
somewhat in construction. The babies
| are taken out OF the lncubat at the
Maternity Hospital to get their nourish-
ment directly from their mothers, who
live i'll the building; but the mother OF
the baby in the POSTGRADUATE Hospital
may not see her offspring from one
weeks end to another.
Therefore the youngster must be fed
by artificial means. aud. after much ex-
pertinent and Study, the doctors have
completed an incubator by means OF
which the baby is nourished without be-
ing removed from its snug little nest.
The moment baby Tor the incubator
arrives at the Maternity Hospital the
white-capped nurses and the doctors
gather about the little wooden box, which
rests upon stand some three or four feet
high. Baby is swathed very carefully in
! ali iC
clothes and all, before he is laid inside
and the glass cover is placed over him.
Underneath the board upon which the
little mite rests are three bottles that are
kept constantly full of hot water. The
air passing from below flows over these
and through the opening in the board
! into the chamber where the infant is. A
thermometer keeps the attendant contin-
ually informed as to the temperature, and
| a small aluminium anenOneter III the
hsmall chimney through which thesair es-
capes, and which furnishes the draught
that keeps the baby supplied with fresh
air, always indicates whether or not the
circulation of air Is good.
The weight is very important matter.
One baby in the incubator is weighed
every day. a healthy baby should show
slight diurnal increase in weight, and if
the doctors find that the diIninutive pa
tient is not growing heavier they seek
remedies for his indisposition, This is
the truest method they have of ascertain
ing the ba5y's progress, and therefore
the greatest care is taken that its cloth es
shall always be OF the same weight, as
two or three ounces is a considerable ill.,
crease for Il young man or woman whose
aggregate weight is only six, seven OF
eight pounds. About 20 per cent. OF the
'incubated" babies have lived, and at
least 30 per cent. of these would have died
but for the incubator.
The incubator which will be- in the
babies ward of the new building of the
POSTGRADUATE Hospital is a great inn
provement on that at the Maternity
Hospital, although it lacks the senti-
meutal surroundings of the one in charge
of the young women doctors. In this inn
proved affair the patient will not have TO
be once lifted from his snug nest from the
time he is placed inside until he be-
comes strong enough to be removed with
safety.
The incubator is set upon bicycle
wheels, so it may be moved about when
ever desired. The fresh air is heated by
passing between two strata of hot water,
rises up both at the head and the foot Of the
mattress, and is kept in motion by an
aluminium fan run by clock-work, thus
preventing any possibility of the little
patients suffering for want OF air. There
is also a tube for the supply OF oxygen.
liberal quantities of which are good for
babies who are hanging on to life by the
merest thread, and it is believed this
ilnprovement Will save great many
lives that would have been losti iD the old
incubator.
By means of a clever mechanical de-
vice the weight OF the baby is always
registered, SO that the physician may dis
cover the slightest variation at any time.
Infants are subject to tn ubercular diseases,
which develop before the doctor knows
what is TIE matter OF course the incu-
bator must be opened in order to feed the
baby its artificial food, but by means of a
, deft sliding of the covers the entrance OF
any cold air from the outside is pre-
vented. The temperature of the inside is
kept as near $50 as possible.
The POSTGRADUATE Hospital gets more
subjects for incubators than the Matern-
ity Hospital, and the task of bringing the
little ones by slow stages to vigor and