Infant Incubator
| Other Name(s) | Baby Incubator |
|---|---|
| Type | Exhibition |
| Park Section | Colonnade |
| Opened | 1908 |
| Closed | 1908 |
| Number of Stories | 1 |
There was an Infant Incubator or Baby Incubator exhibition that opened in the Colonnade at Olentangy Park on May 2, 1908.[1][2] The 1908 Souvenir of Olentangy Park Theatre and Zoological Garden said the nurses employed had been "trained especially for the incubator institution in Berlin and Paris" and that premature babies in ordinary conditions at the time survived only 15 percent of the time. Still, the chances of survival rose to 85 percent with an incubator.[3]
In the exhibit, each baby was given its own incubator, called a castle, where the air was "purified by passing through an antiseptic fluid, and then through cotton, and it was warmed before it was permitted to pass into the infant's apartment." Before being placed in an incubator, the babies were bathed with water and mustard. Two drops of brandy were placed in the baby's mouth for stimulation, followed by the application of a special lotion to their body. The temperature is maintained at 90 to 100 degrees for four days, and the babies are removed every two hours to receive 15 grams of nutrients, including milk from wet nurses. Once the baby can take 30 grams or one ounce of nutrients in one feeding, the baby is well enough to survive without the incubator.[2] Similar exhibits at the time were placed on wire netting inside steel and glass boxes where the temperature and humidity were controlled. They were wrapped in blankets and had a blue or pink bow to indicate the baby's sex. Uniformed nurses attended to them behind a rail to separate them and the babies from the parkgoers.
At least one premature baby in the exhibit was given artificial food and air and became well. The baby replaced a rag doll stage prop in the play "The Heir to the Hoorah," performed that year.[4] This seemed to be only open for the 1908 season.
Infant Incubators first appeared in this way at the 1896 Great Industrial Exposition in Berlin, demonstrated by Dr. Martin A Couney. The next year, was exhibited at Earl's Court in London. The exhibit came to the U.S. in 1898 and was shown at the Trans-Mississippi Exposition in Omaha, Nebraska, as well as the 1901 Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York. At these locations, visitors would walk through the exhibit, encouraged by a carnival-style barker. Couney did not invent the incubator, but brought the technology to the general public and use admission fees to fund it. Olentangy Park Manager J. W. Dusenbury most likely saw it at the 1904 St. Louis Exhibition or at Luna Park in New York. It is unknown if the carnival-barker style was implemented at the park.[3]
References
- ↑ "Olentangy Park Concerts." Columbus Evening Dispatch. May 2, 1908. Page 10.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Barrett, Richard E. "More on Olentangy Park." Columbus and Central Ohio Historian Vol. 3. May 1985. Page 37.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Wilk, Stephen R. Lost Wonderland: The Brief and Brilliant Life of Boston's Million Dollar Amusement Park. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 2020. Pages 67-69.
- ↑ "The Incubator 'Heir'." The Columbus Sunday Dispatch. July 12, 1908. Page 29.