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CHAPTER V. 
ARTIFICIAL INCUBATION. 
SINCE the earlier editions of this work were published, a revolution has taken place in the whole 
practical art of hatching eggs artificially. What was formerly an interesting experiment, only 
practically successful in the hands of a few who gave to it much time and attention, and possessed 
some sort of special gift, is now daily and successfully practised by hundreds of persons in this 
kingdom. While, therefore, reviewing as succinctly as possible both former inventions for hatching 
chickens and the more successful machines of the present day, it must also be our endeavour to 
indicate in the proper place what were those considerations which formed the practical turning- 
point, as regards general success, in regard to artificial incubation. 
It is not to be wondered at that much thought and labour should have been devoted to the 
subject of hatching by artificial means. Early chickens are important to all poultry-keepers, what- 
ever be the object they have in view ; and to the fancier, who desires to have birds fully matured and 
ready for exhibition in time for the autumn shows, they are absolutely essential to success. But 
hens rarely evince a desire to sit at such seasons, unless perhaps in the case of Cochin or Brahma 
pullets ; and as these seldom go long enough with their chickens for very cold weather, the 
obtaining of suitable mothers early in the year is one of the fancier’s most anxious cares. Often, 
indeed, all his efforts fail, and he is doomed to see such eggs as money could not purchase abso- 
lutely wasted for want of hens to sit upon them ; while at the same time he would be willing to give 
almost any price in reason for the means of turning them into those chickens which he has well- 
founded hopes would win him many a prize at next season’s shows. The commercial poultry- 
keeper is rather more fortunate. Having a large stock of birds, he has the greater chance of finding 
at least a few early sitters amongst them ; but even he would gladly set more if he could, remem- 
bering the high prices of the early markets, which well repay extra housing, feeding, and care. 
When, therefore, it is known that for hundreds if not thousands of years chickens have been hatched 
in immense numbers, both in Egypt and in China, with no apparent difficulty and certainly wiui 
very little failure, the only marvel would seem to be that in Europe, with all its resources both of 
science and mechanical skill in construction, similar attempts had not been made upon a larger 
scale and with a larger measure of success. 
It is, perhaps, possible that the apparent simplicity and certainty of the Oriental processes have 
caused the much more favourable conditions under which they are conducted to be forgotten. Both 
in China and in Egypt they are carried on, for instance, on a vast scale, under constant personal 
supervision, and in a temperature both warm and remarkably uniform. The eggs are not placed 
in confined drawers, but generally in roomy chambers : and comparing this with the process of 
nature, and with the conclusion to which various observers have gradually come, as observed 
further on, with regard to the necessity for ventilation, this fact has a significance which has pro- 
bably to a great extent been overlooked. The simplicity of the process, in Egypt at least, may 
also be more apparent than real. The profession of artificial hatching is there strictly hereditary, 
or confined to certain families and handed down from father to son, and all its details are kept most 
religiously secret, under solemn oaths not to divulge them. It is reported by nearly evety 
