The Ketchum keystone. [volume] (Ketchum, Idaho) 1885-1899, 1894-08-04
BY INCUBATORS.
The Lives OF Infants Preserved
by Artificial Means.

Wonders for Prematurely Born
NurxlinEs In New York
City.
ssHe was incubated," the proud moth
er of some great man of the future will
say of her son. For the baby incubator
is 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 no
chance of living, now, if put into an in
cubator, stands about an even chance
of becoming 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 in the tenements where
their parents live the lives Of the frall
little things would have been snuffed
out in less than day after they first
saw the light.
The incubator is used only for pre-
maturcly-born babies and for babies
which are so weak that the wise young
woman doctors are pretty sure they
will die if left in the open air. Strange
ly enough, the incubator is shaped
something like coffin, while its par
ticular aim is to keep babies out OF cof-
fins. There are two kinds Of baby in
cubators, and they differ somewhat in
construction. The babies are taken out
Of the incubators at the Maternity hos
pital 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 OF
spring from one weeks end to an
other.
Therefore the youngster must be fed
bv artificial means, and, after much
experiment and study, the doctors have
completed an incubator by means OF
which the baby is nourished without
being removed from it's 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 stand some three or
four feet high. Baby is swathed very
carefully in warm clothes, and is then
weighed, 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 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 Il
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 baby's
progress, and therefore the creates,
care is taken that it's clothes shall al
WAYS be of the same weight, as two OF
three ounces is considerable increase
for a young man or woman whose ag
gregate weight is only six, seven OF
eight pounds. About seventy per cent
of the 'sincubated" 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 new building OF the
Post Graduate hospital is great im
provement on that at the Maternity
hospital, although it lacks the senti
mental surroundings of the one II
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
by passing between two strata OF ho1
water, rises up both at the head and
the foot of the mattress and is kept II
motion by an aluminium fan run by
clockwork, thus preventing any posi-
bility of the little patients suffering
for want of air. There is also tubs
for the supply of oxygen, liberal quan
titles of which are good for babies who
are hanging on to life by the meres'
thread, and it is believed this improve
ment will save great many lives thai
would have been lost in the old incu
bator.
by means Of 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 tubercula,
diseases, which develop before the doe
tor knows what is the matter. O1
course, the incubator must be opened
in order to feed the baby its artificial
food, but by means of q deft sliding o1
the covers the entrance Of any cold ali
from the outside Is prevented. The
temperature of the inside Of the incu
bator is kept as near ninety eight de
grees as possible.
The Post-Graduate hospital gets more
subjects for incubators than the Ma
ternity hospital, and the task Of bring
ing the little ones by slow stages t<
vigor and health Is the more difficult
because the mothers are not present *
nurse them. The learned doctors o1
this institution have literally snatched
life from the jaws Of death on more
than one occasion.