The Pike was not all frivolous. Several of its attractions were of real
scientific value and of deep human interest. The best of these was one in
which immature and feeble infants were cared for by artificial means, thus
saving the lives of many that, without this care, would doomed to an early
death. The beautiful building, with its open court and its profusion of
symbolic statuary, was one of the few fire-proof structures on the Pike.
The display rooms were fitted with nickel, enamel and glass, and there were
fourteen of the most modern pattern of infant incubators. At one end of
the long room was the nursery, separated for the visitor by a wall of plate
glass. Here the "graduate" babies were kept, some in the little
enamel beds and others in tiny cribs, where the lecturer would call attention
to their plumpness and appearance of vigor in contrast with the frailness
of the poor little creatures in the incubators. There were ten trained nurses,
four lecturers and from twenty to thirty babies that were seen, but the
babies constituted the real show.
In the back of the building the fourteen incubators and nursery was located.
Here the babies from all over the city, that were too frail or too immature
at birth to live under normal conditions, were kept in the incubators until
they could endure the temperature of the outside air. Then they were transferred
to the nursery and were given the most perfect care and were gradually accustomed
to the conditions that would surround them in their own homes or the orphan
asylums to which there were to be sent. Three physicians, several demonstrators
and a corps of trained nurses were always in charge. The demonstrators explained
to the visitors just how the incubators were heated and ventilated, and
told many interesting and instructive facts about the care of very young
people
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