Futility Closet

For more than 40 years in the early 20th century, Martin Couney ran a sideshow in which premature babies were displayed in incubators. With this odd practice he offered a valuable service in an era when many hospitals couldn't. In this week's episode of the Futility Closet podcast we'll describe Couney's unusual enterprise, which earned both criticism and praise. We'll also marvel over an Amazonian survival and puzzle over a pleasing refusal. Intro: The inventor of the Dewey Decimal System suggested that GHEAUGHTEIGHPTOUGH might spell potato. John VI of Portugal listened to visitors through his throne. Sources for our feature on Martin Couney: Dawn Raffel, The Strange Case of Dr. Couney: How a Mysterious European Showman Saved Thousands of American Babies, 2018. Janet Golden, Babies Made Us Modern: How Infants Brought America Into the Twentieth Century, 2018. Elizabeth A. Reedy, American Babies: Their Life and Times in the 20th Century, 2007. Mhairi G. MacDonald, Mary M. K. Seshia, and Martha D. Mullett, Ave