Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1897-08-12
a FRENCH BABY INCUBATOR. !"

Nothing could be apparently more
simple than the incubator itself. n is
cage with a glass front, through
"nlch passes a current of filtered air
constantly renewed and maintained
perpetually at a perfectly even tamper
azure Our practical minds imme-
";ately appreciated the fact that the
entire trick of this artificial breeding
WIS there; that this was the i1ven-
ton, in short The motherly hen who
gathers Aor e~@s under be- Wings is
not obliged t" "nmbat any, question of
respiration. The friendly articles that
so successfully supplant her need con-
Germ themselves only with heat. But
even the fondest mother usually She
cumbs before the problem of giving
strong healthy baby constant sup.
ply OF fresh air which never varies in
temperature, and ends by giving a
delicate child no air at all.
The temperature in the incubator is
maintained By self-regulating Their
mometer. The exact degree of heat
required in proportion to the develop-
Is first estimated by a system of cal
culatlon. If the temperature rises
above that level the thermometer rises
as we'll, and by it's ascension alone di-
lnishes the action of the current of
heat. If the temperature tends to fall
the thermometer allows more heat tn
pass.
10 watch these little animate rolIs
was quite blow to that instinct Which
makes us associate a certain state with
the newborn heir to eternal life en-
terlng into his kingdom Of existence
Ihey were all exactly alike. red and
Wrlnkled, sleeping away like so many
little animals. They were dressed.
however, in little white frocks on
"0e saw the finest OF French
needle-work above the limbs, swathed,
according to French custom. and each
had a tiny bow of the narrowest pink
ribbon on her sleeves. 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 curious spoon, with a bowl
like a rose petal pinched together at
one end.
At the back of the room we noticed
a little classroom, in which were two
rosy-faced nurses, for so simple and
so purely mechanical is the work of
taby-incubating that very little care
is needed. Each baby is touched only
six times a day-f0ur times to be fed,
twice changed. The nurses live in a
emperature of about twenty-five de-
grees centigrade. The baby is covered
to be carried to the nurse, and ass soon
as it is normal it takes the breast
Out of the eleven mites in the room
when we were there five weighed less
than two pounds at birth. Out Of
1875 children carried to the incubator in
three years, 1877 have been saved.
The baby incubator was invented in
1891, and charity incubators in France
are the work of philanthropist, DR..
Lion, who has interested prominent
people of all sorts and conditions of
life in the work, and hopes TO establish
similar institutions all over Paris. An
incubator can be rented for sixty
francs month, and any family, by
means of an ordinary gas tube, ker-
osene lamp, or current of electricity,
and twelve dollars a month can save
little life, still more precious to those
to whom it has been given, by reason
of its fragility.-Harper's Bazaar.