The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1897-10-29
THE "BABY INCUEATOR,"
Its Use Saves Many II Delicate
Child.

From Harper's Bazar
Nothing could be apparently more
simple than the incubator itself. 1t is
a cage with a glass front, through
which passes current of filtered air,
constantly renewed and maintained
pcrpetually at perfectly even tenn
perature. Our practical minds imme-
diately appreciated the fact that the
entire trick of this artificial breeding
was there; that this was the invention
in short. The motherly hen who gath
crs her eggs under her wings is not
obliged to combat any question of res
piration. The friendly articles that so
successfully supplant her need concern
themselves only with heat. But even
the fOndest mother usually succumbs
before the problem of giving a strong
healthy baby a constant supply of fresh
air which never varies in temperature
and ends by giving a delicate child no
air at all.
The temperature i'm the incubator Is
maintained by self-regulating Their
mometer The exact degree of heat re-
quired in proportion to the develop
ment of the wee morsel of humanity is
first estimated by a system of calcu-
lation. If the temperature rises above
that level the thermometer rises as
well, and by its ascension alone dimin-
isheS the action of the current of heat.
If the temperature tends to fall the
thermometer allows more heat to pass.
To watch these little animate rolls
was quite a blow to that instinct which
makes us associate a certain state with
the new born heir to eternal life enter
ing into his kingdom of existence. They
were all exactly alike, red and wrinkled,
sleeping away like so many little ami
mails They were dressed. however, in
little white frocks, on which one saw
the finest French needlework above the
little limbs, emmallotees, or swathed,
according to French custom, and each
had a tiny bow of the narrowest pink
ribbon on her sleeve. Four times a
day they are taken out and fed, and
the tiniest mites, "siX-month babies" ,"
as they are called, are fed through the
nose by a curious spoon, with a bowl
like a rose petal pinched together al
one end.
At the book Of the room we noticed
q little classroom, in which were two
rosy-faced nurses, for so simple and 50
purely mechanical Is the work Of baby
incubatng that very little care is need
ed. Each baby is touched only six
times q day-fOur times TO be fed, twice
changed. The nurses live in a TEN,
| perature of about 25 degrees centigrade
| The baby is covered to be carried tC
| the nurse. and as soon as it Is norma
| 1t takes the breast. Out of the clever
| mites in the room when we were there
| five weighed less than two pounds a
| birth. Out Of lS5 children carried t,
| the incubator I'm three years, 157 hav,
! been saved.
The baby incubator was invented n
! 1891, and charity incubators i'm Franc,
are the work of a philanthropist, DIR
! Lion, who has interested promnen
people of all sorts and conditions of lf,
! In the work. and hopes to establish
! similar institutions all over Paris, Al
! incubator can be rented for sixt!
francs a month, and any family, b!
means of an ordinary gas tube, a kero
sene lamp or "A current of electricit,
and S12 a month, can save a little life
still more precious to those to whom
II has been given by reason of its fra
| gility.