The Waterbury Democrat., 1933-08-09
? IN NN. NEW | . YORK

New York.-The scbres of husky beach guards at Coney Island are kept pretty busy yanking venture some people out of the surf. But all of them put together can't ap- proach the life-saving record or plump and elderly little man nam ed Dr Martin Couney, who runs Il concession on the boardwalk. Dr Couney is the incubator-baby man, and in the 3 years he has been at Coney Island (with branches now at Atlantic City and | the Chicago fair) he has saved something like ten thousand lives. He was born in Breslau. Silesia, 6e years ago, and in the. course of his studies of prematurely-born children invented the incubator by which they might be kept alive u1- til ready to begin normal growth. He was persuaded to bring his invention to America as a side show, and started first in Omaha. Neb. Corn-belt babies were too healthy and normal, however, so he came to Coney in 1903. Found it a good location, too, for some times babies are born unexpectedly after their mothers have gone rid- ing on Q roller coaster. Also the city hospitals, after inspecting the incubators. proved willing to de- liver undersized infants into pr Couney's care.
 All Races Accepted
 The place is immaculate-white enamel, gleaming chromium, poll ished plate glass partitions behind | g~I. ls A1>A charges. There are twelve incuba- tors and they usually are all. oc- cupied; just now one. of them is shared by 2 1-2-pound girl twins. who are coming along famously. Premature babies can't breath or- dinary air, so this air is washed, filtered, warmed and mixed with oxygen before it Is pumped into the incubators. 9
 l Lying there in swaddling clothes, and with big pink bows around their middles, the youngsters have little privacy but don't seem to mind the stares and exclamations I of the curious. Milton Boyle, the lecturer, explains that most of them are incubated about five weeks; that they are taken out and fed every three hours; that there are two doctors besides pr Couney, and five nurses. All races are ac- cepted, and the establishment has bored lots of Negro and Chinese babies. The prize exhibit now Is a little red-headed Irishman whose yells can be heard out on the boardwalk. Incubator Great
 The barker there is George Bleasale, who used to be stage manager for Morris Gest, and be- fore that vaudeville clown who trouped with Marcelline and Sliv- CTS. Bleasdale hopes things will be better on Broadway soon; he's tir-
 ed explaining to penurious Coney crowds that ''the 25-cent admission charge is necessary because the tiny tots are given the very best of medical care absolutely free.' T Dr Couney is fond of recalling that Darwin, Sir Isaac Newton, Napoleon and Voltaire were pre-
 mature babies, but he's much prouder of the people he has saw
 ed, even if they didn't turn out to
 be geniuses. A strapping big cop
 now on the Coney force was one
 of the doctors first patients. And
 at least once week somebody
 comes around and introduces him.
 self as a graduate of one of the
 early classes. Sometimes there are
 reunions of a dozen or more. X |
 Grateful Parents { Just now the whole island is
 sentimentalizing over the pretty
 romance of husky Coney electriL
 clan (incubator class of '07) and
 one of Dr Couney's young nurses.
 They were married about a year
 ago and now are expecting a baby
 of their own.
 Parents as a rule are deeply
 grateful, but troublesome. Cant
 seem to understand that the
 youngsters must not be touched.
 There was one father. though, who
 demanded a percentage of the gate receipts when he saw his tiny son
 attracting crowds. E