Bridget Sullivan, age 13,of Libertyville, I11., for her question:
WHO INVENTED THE BABY INCUBATOR?
Perhaps Bridget has seen a small incubator in her classroom that can hatch one or two chicken eggs. These small incubators are easy to make and generally consist of a single low watt light bulb enclosed in a smallish box. A shallow dish filled with water provides moisture and a thermometer helps keep track of the temperature. Providing you turn the eggs daily, and your incubator stays at about 103 degrees F., at the end of three weeks you should have baby chicks.
There are a number of different types of incubators. Some are used to incubate the eggs of chickens, ducks., pheasants, geese and other birds. Some are used in laboratories to grow bacteria and other types of micro organisms and still others areused to help prematurely born or sick babies until they are healthy enough to live on their own. Although all these incubators differ in how they look and how they are designed, they all work on the same principle to provide constant and adequate warmth, moisture and air circulation.
Nowadays going to the hospital to have a baby is a safe and happy experience. Not so a scant 100 years ago. Not only did many babies fail to survive but many mothers never lived through the ordeal. Hospitals and doctors were not quite as clean and germ free as they are today. However, thanks to the concern and dedication of the members of our medical profession, conditions have improved immensely. The battle against germs was finally won, and doctors turned their attention to preserving the lives of babies born too early or too sick to survive under normal conditions.
In 1880, Dr. E.S. Tanier, of Paris, France, built an incubator to house these early or sick babies. His incubator consisted of a box that was divided into an upper and a lower floor. The upper floor was a place to house the baby, while the lower floor was a chamber to provide heat and moisture.
The first incubator used in the United States was built by Dr. W.C. Deming, who was in charge of the maternity ward of the State Emigrant Hosiptal in New York City. The incubator was built at the request of Dr. Allan M. Thomas in 1888. By modern standards it was rather large, three feet square and almost four feet high. Called a hatching cradle, it provided just the right temperature and moisture for a baby to survive. A wee baby girl was its first occupant.
Modern incubators look more or less like a baby crib enclosed in glass or plastic. They provide the right temperature, moisture and oxygen, if needed, to help an early arrival to survive. They also have long gloves built into holes that allow doctors and nurses to care for the babies and still maintain a germ free atmosphere.