The San Francisco call. [volume], December 21, 1902, Image 11

About The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913

Image provided by: University of California, Riverside; Riverside, CA

                
"Thus we not only secure unto erar In
fant charges every sanitary condition that
has been devised by human ingenuity up
to the present time, but as they He there
mug and warm in the medicated hot air,!
the glass sides of the incubators shut out 1
all sound and everything is as quiet lrii
their tiny bedrooms as if they were miles
away from everything and everybody."
His further discourse was interrupted byi
a piping wall from the depths of the in-.
"That thing with a face like a clock?")
asked the pompous woman puffins with
her effort to stoop low enough In the nar
row confines of the closely packed crowd
to see the Instrument indicated.
"Yes, that thing with the clock-like face
— the hydrometer, it is called — corrects the
atmosphere by the admission of a certain
amount of damp air from this little tank
of the same temperature as that already
in the chamber and automatically shuts
the damp air off again when the supply of
moisture Is sufllcient."
"Did you ever!" exclaimed the first two
women in unison.
top of the machine, which In turn oper
ates upon the small apparatus on th*
right hand side, designed particularly to
regulate the flame of the lamp, causing
it to be gradually reduced— thus"— suKlnrf
action to the word by pressing a smal.
button, which shut off the draught on tha
flame— "and so lowers the temperatv.re of
the chamber to the proper degree again.
"But, however, the humidity o\* thii
miniature bedroom is of as great impor
tance as the maintenance of the proper
degree of heat. When the air does not
register a. sufficient amount of moisture
that little device which you can see on
the back wall there above the baby's
head — " V- ."¦;? •.. ; -'
' i "The ordinary child, breathing all sorts
\it microbes from, the breath of grown-up
.people In an ordinary room, has no pro-
I tection whatever from maladies of all
••• sorts; but with the incubator baby it Is
" different. The incubator, being simply a
room within a room, every precaution can
be and ; is taken to prevent the child's
system from absorbing these Impurities
.'the breathing apparatus. Hence
the beneficial - and far-reaching effects of
. the medicated hot air. • - -. -
"Therefore these Incubator babies do not
breathe the air of this room, which,
crowded as It Is from early morning* till
i late at night, would be worse than crim
'lnal. Instead they are constantly supplied
with fresh air from the outside."'
"How?" asked the wag, grown suddenly
' od seriously Inquisitive. *
"Through this pipe, which you see on
the left," answered Mr. Rollins, Indicat
ing ' what looked like a length of polished
toveplpe.
'"But this air is not admitted In Its or
dinary state," he went on, "for even
¦ fresh air, laden as it may be with impuri-
"wnat! Doesn't a baby come with, each
one?"
The silence that followed Mr. .Rollins'
polite negative was more awesome than
ever, but finally th© Inherent curiosity of
the sex triumphed again and the ques
tions went on as before.
"What do you feed them."
"Albumen water and condensed milk
every two hours, day and: night. Just as
In the case of the ordinary home child,"
answered Mr. Rollins.
"Did you ever?" " •'
Both women watched the still little ob
jects with bated breath for some mo
ments and then:
"Do they sleep all the time?"
"Yes, nearly all the tlm©, except when\
ye have to wake them to feed them."
' "Do you really do that?" with a note
of dismay.
"Yes, madam. They must be well nour
ished."
"Poor little things." And then with en
forced cheerfulness, "Just look at this
one ov«r here."
"Isn't It cunning?"
r tr you tmnu tins wona is not a good,
I old fashioned world still, with a lot
| of homely Sli notions about things
In general and babies in particular,
Just linger awhile near the "baby
Incubators" at the Chutes and listen to the
surprising exclamations that are evoked
by the first sight of the tiny human con
tents thereof. *
There are three of these new fangled
creations of medical science to save the
wee nickering lives of Infants who have
jcome Into the world prematurely and each
lof these odd machines contains a passive
jlittle mortal, which no mother could ever
rescue from an early grave by any other
means, but It Is an astonishing fact that
aalf of those who pay their good money
:o see the incubators do so with the firm
conviction that It is some new sort of
game gotten up by the Chutes manage
metn solely for their amusement. For the
first few minutes after entering it is hard
to convince them that the babies are real
ly alive and not mere automatons. They
simply stand and Btare with incredulous
eyes and then begin to ask questions. And
those In quest of information are not all
women by any matter of means as might
be supposed. So If you want to learn
something about human nature that is
*he time to listen. • -
"W^y, they're wax," one woman cried
on first beholding them.
"No, they ain't!" her companion an
cwered after a few moments' awesome
scrutiny of the pink eiderdown bundle
oehlnd the glass door of the Incubator.
"They're alive. Bee that- one move."
RAISING BABIES ON MEDICATED HOT AIR
"Isn't It wonderful! How did you ever
think of such a thing?" asked the pom
pous old lady eying Mr. Rollins admir
"ingly. ' , - .-. ;¦'¦_- - .• \£',h - :
"The air having been properly medi
cated,", went on Mr. Rollins, Ignoring the
Interruption, "is then heated to the pro
per temperature. We ¦¦ place the newly
born child In a temperature of 90 degrees
Fahrenheit and gradually decrease this
(through a period of three months to <»5
fiegrees, which Is the normal temperature.
Then tests are made to see if the child
can stand that temperature before it is
pent back to Its parents, and its place
In the Incubator filled with another baby.
"It is easy^to see therefore that the tem
perature, .next to the absolute purity of
¦the - medicated air Itself, Is one of ths
{most - important - and interesting features
of i this machine, i
•'As ; you may observe, the air,, Is heated
by the spirit lamp at the right of the In
cubator while It passes through the ma
ichlne., Just Inside here; above thiubaby's
rnead, you may note-' a Uttle coll of metal.
JThat is called a micrometer, and when the*
chamber gets* too "-hot,- that 1 coll expands
find fa expanding obens the valve at the
"Instead It is passed through this small
square box, which is filled with absorbent
cotton, and then on through a similar
box just inside the Incubator, beneath the
shelf on . which the . baby's bed is made,
which shelf, by the way, can be raised
Dr lowered at will just like the movable
grating In the oven of an ordinary kitch
en stove. This second box is filled with
other . chemicals to render j the air abso
lutely pure before it ascends to the child
through the grating beneath its couch,
and passes on out through the chimney
pipe . at the top, which, as you see, Is of
glass fitted with a* little delicately adjust
ed buzzer, *hat twirls . fast or k slow ac
cording to the strength of the' air cur
rent:" _ .....
tties, would have a very bad effect t>n
children so frail as these. • i
Them doctors do beat the old Nick
himself," she finally remarked, Vsure they
have babies arid babies and . no mothers
at all — at all."
And that seems to be the general opinion.
And so they left her, trying to effect
the purchase of a "medicated baby" as she
called them from the patient but obdu
rate Mr. Rollins..
"Don't think they'll ever raise them."
said the first woman In a stage .whispej
to her companion, as they moved toward
the. door. x .
"Wonder what the mother thinks?" tha
other ruminated as doubtfully.
The pompous woman was not troubled
by any vague misgivings, however.
"Do you sell the babies?" she demanded
with the air of a woman "of means at a
doll- show.
"Oh, ain't It awful," chorused the
women In surprise^ not unmixed with
anguish, but It was noted that the baby'
fell into a sound slumber again as sooa
as it had received Its meal, drop by drop,
from the glass "dropper" held to Its shell
like nostril by the steady hand of tha
nurse.
"Thl3 baby is so small and so delicate
that it has to be fed through the nostrils,
not more than half a teaspoonfull of milS
at each meal — one drop at a time," ex
plained Mr. 'Rollins, when the nurse took
the baby Into her arms.
eubator at the end of the room and a
trim little, nurse, with a calm profes
sional air, came In on tho Instant, bearing
In her hand a curious glass tube about'
as thick as a lead pencil, having at one
end a small rubber bulb.
«*WeIl, did you ever. Why, lfs crying."
••Poor little thing."
"Oh, I think it's simply terrible."
"Boy. or girl?"
This last question to W. O. Rollins, who
with Dr. F. D. Coyle and a staff of three;
trained nurses, has charge of the curious
scientific display.
"Girl," he answered.
"How much does she weighT"
"At birth its weight was only two
pounds and nine ounces," he explained;
"but since Its mother brought it here it
has gained rapidly."
"Only^ two pounds and nine ounces!
Gracious! Isn't it awful?" And the two
women gazed at each other in growing
amazement
"Was it born at the Chutes?" the first
speaker finally ventured after what was
(to them) an awkward pause.
"No, madam, as you can readily appre
ciate, we are not at liberty to give any
information concerning their parentage.
These babies are only entrusted to our
care because otherwise they are too weak
to live. But some day this baby girl can
claim the proud distinction of being a
native daughter."
"Really," and the eyes opened in great
er astonishment. "Why, I thought they
were all brought from Paris."
"No, madam, only the Incubators come
from Paris."
"Perfectly dear. Does it cry muchT"
"Not as much as the homo child, ma*
dam."
"Who -walks the floor with" them?"
broke In a wag behind them. Both wo
men turned an Indignant glance upon the
would-be humorist, but Mr. Rollins only
smiled the weary smile of a man to whom
the question Is not new. .
Before he could have replied even It ha
would a pompous old woman elbowed her
way Into the group.
"A brooder. Well, I declare! Raising
babies like chickens. Who'd a thought
it?" /And she laughed the big, good
natured laugh of one to whom all things
are what they seem at first glance and
who always resents having their Illusions
spoiled. "I didn't know before that they
could hatch babies in a box like that. Oh,
them doctors, them doctors." And she
chuckled unctuously as she tried to at
tract the baby's attention. '
"What do the babies do in there V
asked the first woman, .Indicating the
glass lnclosure, where the smallest child
In the world, having been generously fed,
was now reposing so peacefully.
"Nothing, madam. Just sleep and eat
and grow fat on medicated hot air."
"Medicated hot air!" the women cried,
In consternation. "Well, I never." .
And then they crowded eagerly forward
whiler, Mr. Rollins proceeded to elucidate.
"The particular and peculiar advantage
jf raising babies in an Incubator— in fact,
;he . sole reason— is that it reduces the
lursery to a very, small compass, enabling
•he attendants to keep it at a more even
;emperature than they could a room of
this size, for Instance. In short, these
ncubators are nothing more nor less than :
miniature nurseries, each complete in
tself. :. '
"The Incubator protects the child from
microbes, colds and draughts, and mor«
particularly.. from ths many atmospherlo '
mpurities, which have but little or no ef
'ect upon adults, but which at this stage
if a child's. development are nearly al
ways fa tali .;—-
In to-day's issue of The
Sunday Call appears 'the sec-
ond installment of "The Gos-
pel of Judas Iscariof," by
Aaron Dwight Baldwin— a
novel that is proving the sen-
sation of two continents.
This book will be published
complete in three issues of
The Sunday Call's Magazine
Section —, December 14, 21
and 28. :
BE STTRE TO BEAD IT.
IT IS THE 'NOVEL OS
THE HOTJB.
Our., next novel will b«,
"When Knighthood -Was in'
Flower," by Charles Major,
illustrated by photographs of
scenes -in Julia " Marlowe/»
play of ths same name. (
In to-day's issue of The
Sunday Call appears the sec-
ond installment of "The Gos-
pel of Judas Iscariot," by
Aaron , Dwight Baldwin— a
novel that is proving the sen-
sation of two continents.
This book will be published
complete in three issues of
The Sunday Call's Magazine
Section -— December 14, 21
and 28.
BE STTBE TO "iraA-p it.
IT IS THE NOVEL OF
THE HOTJB.
Our next novel will be
"When Knighthood Was in
Flower,", by Charles Major,
illustrated by photographs of
scenes in Julia Marlowe's
play of the same name.