CHAPTER VII 

 Artificial Incubation 



AN ORPHAN 



A well-known professor has a bright boy, who 

 one day, at the age of four, appeared in his father's 

 study clasping in his hands a forlorn-looking little 

 .chicken, which had strayed from a neighboring 

 brooder. 



"Willie," said his father, "take that chicken back 

 to its mother." 



"Ain't dot any mudder," answered Willie. 



"Well, then, take it back to its father," said the 

 professor, determined to maintain parental authority. 



"Ain't dot any fader," said the child. "Ain't dot 

 anythin' but an old lamp !" 



A BIT OF HISTORY 



How long artificial incubation has been practiced 

 is not known. The Egyptians, the Assyrians, the 

 Greeks, and the Chinese are known to have practiced it 

 many centuries ago. And from the crude ovens of 

 those semi-civilized peoples the American incubator 

 has come in the evolution of things. AI. Reaumur, a 

 Frenchman, was so far as known the first European 

 to plan an incubator. But Reaumur's plan was wholly 

 and distinctly different from the incubators of today. 

 The Frenchman put his eggs in boxes, casks, etc., 

 and piled dung about them, which fermented and made 

 the necessary heat, the manure being replenished when 

 needed. But we have no details. We don't know 



