The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1894-06-21
MATCHING OUT KIDS
The Lives of Infants Preserved
by Artificial Means.
ecience's Substitute for Nature Doing
Wonders for Prematureiy Born
Nurslings in New York
CITY.

City.
HE was incubated," the proud moth
Or of some great man of the future vii
say of her son. For the baby incubator
is a success and has come to stay. The
doctors declare that incubators have
already been the means of saving the
lives of one hundred infants in New
York In fact, the newborn baby who
under old-fashioned methods has nc
chance of living, now, if put into a n in
cubator, stands about an even chance
of becoming a healthy, Growing young
ster Baby incubators are now in use
in two hospitals in the city.
A cozier place for baby could not
be imagined. says the New York World
Here the embryo citizens have every
opportunity the world affords to hold
On to life and to grow healthy and
strong. while IL the tene1uents where
their parents live the lives of the frail
little things would have been snuffed
out in less than day after they first
saw the light.
The incubator is used only for pre-
maturely-born babies and for babies
which are so weak that the wise young
woman doctors are pretty sure they
viii die Il left III the open air. Strange
" enough, the incubator is shaped
something Ike coffin, while its par
ticular aim is to keep babies out of cof-
Jins. There are two kinds Of baby in
cubators, and they differ somewhat in
construction. The babies are taken out
Of the incubatoTs at the Maternity hos
pitaI TO get their nourishment directly
from their mothers, who live in the
building; but the mother in the Post
Graduate hospital may not see her Off
spring from ore weeks end to an
other.
Therefore the youngster must be fed
by artificial means. and, after much
experiment and study, the doctors have
completed All incubator by means of
which the baby is nourished without
being removed from its snug little nest.
The moment baby for the incubator
arrives at the Maternity hospital the
white-capped nurses and the doctors
gather about the little wooden box,
which rests upon a stand some three or
four feet high. Baby is swathed very
carefully IL warm clothes, and is then
weighed. clothes and all, before he is
laid inside and the glass cover is placed
over MIN.
Underneath the board upon which
the little mite rests are three bottles
that are kept constantly full of hot
water The air passing in from below
flows over these and through an open
ing in the board into the chamber
where the infant is. A thermometer
keeps the attendant continually in
formed. as to the temperature, and
little aluminium anenometer IN the
small chimney through which the air
escapes, and which furnishes the
draught that keeps the baby supplied
with fresh air. always indicates wheth-
er or not the circulation OF the air is
good.
The weight is very important mat
ter. 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 diminutive patient is not growing
heavier they seek remedies for his in
disposition. This is the truest method
they have of ascertaining the babys
progress, and therefore the greatest
care is taken that it's clothes shall al
ways be of the same weight, as two or
three ounces is a considerable increase
for young man or woman whose ag-
gregate weight is only SIX, seven or
eight pounds. About seventy per cent.
of the ''incubated' babies have lived,
and at least fifty per cent. of these
would have died but for the incubator.
The incubator which will be in the
babies ward of the pew building of the
POSTGRADUATE hospital is great i'm
provement on that at the Maternity
hospital, although it lacks the senti-
mental surroundings of the one in
charge of the young woman doctors.
The incubator is set upon bicycle
wheels. so it may be moved about when
ever desired. The fresh air is heated
nv 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 posi-
bility of the little patients suffering
for want Of air There is also tube
for the supply of oxygen, liberal guam
titles of which are good for babies who
are hanging on to life by the mercst
thread, and it is believed this improve
ment win save great many lives that
would have been lost in the old incu-
bator.
BY means of a clever mechanical de-
vice the weight of the baby is always
registered. so that the physician may
discover the slightest variation at any
time. Infants are subject to tubercular
diseases, which develop before the doc |
tor knows what is the matter. OF |
course, the incubator must be opened /
in order to feed the baby its artificial J
food, but by means of deft sliding of !,
the covers the entrance OF any cold air
from the outside is prevented. The !
of the inside of the incu- /
bator is kept as near ninety-eight de- |
grees as possible.
The POSTGRADUATE hospital gets more i
subjects for ipcubators than the Ma
ternitv hospital, and the task of bring /
ing the little ones by slow stages to
vigor and health is the more difficult
because the mothers are not present to
nurse them. The learned doctors of
this institution have literally snatehed
life from the jaws of death on more
than one occasion.
No Bawling Auctioneer.