At the beginning of the last century, a scandal erupted in the medical environment around Dr. Martin Coney. He was considered an impostor, a crazy, greedy monster. But it was this person who eventually became the founder of the theory of nursing premature babies with a record low weight.
According to some reports, Dr. Martin Coney had no medical education at all, but it was this awkward, stooped man who saved the lives of not even thousands, but millions of babies, for whose survival few had any hope. Moreover, he directed the thirst of people to gawk at the suffering of others to save babies, drew public attention to a new science for those times - neonatology.
Who is Dr. Martin Coney
Few people know that incubators for babies were invented in France back in 1880, but their effectiveness was not believed then. For 16 years the invention lay "on the shelf" until several copies were bought from the developer by a certain Martin Coney. An enterprising German Jew purchased them initially in order to draw attention to them, but he decided to do this in a rather unusual way. Dr. Martin organized an exhibition and set up incubators with babies in the halls. Moreover, he arranged a kind of tour of Europe. This approach to the implementation of the innovation caused rumors and condemnation among pragmatic Europeans, but did not give the desired result.
In 1903, Dr. Martin Coney set out to conquer America. His calculation of the Americans' thirst for unusual and eerie spectacles was the only correct one. In the United States of that time, performances were extremely popular, where people with physical disabilities were shown. It was this "button" that the enterprising Martin Coney pressed when he hung a little eerie posters of his exhibition in Brooklyn. The Americans flocked to the place where, for only 25 cents, one could see premature babies weighing from 600 to 900 grams. Dr. Martin easily paid for the cost of nursing his wards, and 41 out of 58 children who were patients of his incubators survived.
World medicine has received a unique technique. Thanks to Dr. Martin Coney, interest in incubators, Coney's detailed notes, was aroused in the professional environment. Martin kept detailed diaries of infant care, each ending with a report on the outcome.
Biography of Dr. Martin Coney
Martin Arthur Coney, who became the most famous and talked about doctor of his time, was born in 1870. He was a Jewish migrant who moved with his family to Germany permanently. Nothing is known about his childhood and youth. He himself claimed that his ancestors were hereditary healers, his mother's family even had an education in this area, many practiced. He himself, again according to him, studied the profession with a French obstetrician, head of the department of the Medical Academy, Dr. Pierre-Constantin Boudin. And this is supposedly why Budin in 1896 entrusted Martin Coney with his invention - incubators for babies.
About the personal life of the eccentric Doctor Martin, whom his contemporaries considered him, nothing is known. But the fact is that during the period of his practice, including during the exhibitions with incubators, he managed to save almost 7,000 babies born with a weight of less than 1 kg. And if we take into account the fact that Dr. Martin Coney drew attention to the method itself, to the science of neonatology, then we can safely count the lives saved in the millions. Yes, he did not invent the incubator. This is the brainchild of his teacher Pierre-Konstantin Budin. The author of the idea and device could not make his colleagues believe in him. Martin Cone managed to do it, albeit through condemnation, but succeeded.
Dr. Martin Coney died in early March 1950. For almost 40 years, he has been actively involved in the introduction of incubators for babies into practice, their improvement and refinement. Modern incubators are essentially the same as those used by Dr. Martin. The changes consist in the introduction of separately functioning devices to them.
Results of the activities of Dr. Martin Coney
Incubators for babies, which Dr. Martin Coney introduced to the Americans, were the most complex technical devices for the beginning of the last century. The attention of onlookers was also attracted by Coney's little wards. The largest babies did not weigh more than 900 grams. At that time, such children were considered unviable and no efforts were made to nurture them in medical institutions.
Martin Coney attracted the attention of potential viewers in an unusual way, not typical for medicine. His posters were beckoning to the exhibition, to a kind of attraction, where you can see premature babies. People of that time treated them more like freaks than babies. This attitude was typical for the beginning of the last century, when the most popular performances were performances of freaks, people with physical disabilities.
They paid only 25 cents for the show. Dr. Martin Coney spent all the proceeds from his exhibition on the maintenance of incubators and nursing his wards. During his life, he did not save a cent, he did not have savings, his own home, he did not leave an inheritance. His legacy was different and was intended for all mankind.
In the modern medical environment, Dr. Martin Coney and the inventor of incubators for premature babies, Pierre-Constantin Boudin, are considered the founders of a whole trend in pediatrics - neonatology. Coney's amusement exhibitions attracted the attention of medical pundits, incubators were adopted and by his death in 1950 became an integral part of every maternity ward in Europe and America.
