Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 10.djvu/590

* INCORPOREAL. 516 INCUBATOR. as a future leasehold estate, ur a profit d prendre (q.v.) for a term of years, which pass like utiier personal property to the executor or admiiiistra- tor, are equally entitled to be described as in- corporeal. It was in the methods of conveyunee employed in creating or transferring the two kinds of prop- erty that the distinction between them attained its principal importance. Corporeal interests be- ing susceptible of seisin, of possession, were said to 'lie in livery,' i.e. to be capable of transfer by the method of livery of seisin, or delivery of pos- session; whereas the more intangible incorporeal property, not being susceptible of physical trans- fer, wa.s said to 'lie in grant,' i.e. to be transfer- able only by the form of deed known as a grant (q.v.). With the abolition of conveyance by livery of seisin and the general adoption of the method of conveyance by deed for all kinds of properly, corporeal and incorporeal, the distinc- tion has largely lost its importance. See Hebe- ditambnt; Real Pbopebty. INCREMENT, The Uneabned. See Un- EABNEU ImRKME.NT. INCROYABLES, ftn'kwrii'ya'br ( Fr. word, meaning incredibles). A name applied to the Parisian dandies under the Directory, who made themselves conspicuous by their extravagance in dress, manner, and speech. One of their pecu- liarities was the omission of r in speaking, and they got their name from their favorite expres- .sion, Ha petite pa'ole d'honneu', c'est inc'oyahle ( me wohd of honnah. it's incwedible). They were mostly royalists. The type has been known at different periods in the history of France, by various names: Agrcahhn, Clommeux, Merveil- leux, ilirliflors. Lions, Musradins, iluffuets, Petit- maitres, etc. (See Jeune-sse DoKfiE.) The term 'Incroyables' is also applied to the exaggerated style (if liats which they wore. INCUBATOR (I.at. incubator, one who lies in a place, from incubarc, to lie within, to incu- bate, from in, in + cubare, to lie). A term ap- plied in poultry-raising to devices used for artificial intubation or the hatching of eggs. Arti- ficial incubation was successfully practiced in very; ancient times in Egypt and China, and prob- ably other countries. The methods and ap- pliances still used in China are quite simple, and even crude, but are employed with great skill and a, cover charcoal. Fio. 1. b, basket ; CHINESE INCCBATOB. •. )ar:rf. eggs;f, mat: £-, ashes; b. success, Reaumur, the eminent French physi- cist, used successfully a very crude form of in- cubator, consisting of a barrel heated with fer- menting manure: but he encountered much criti- cism and opposition on the ground that chickens 80 hatched "were unfit for human food because they tasted of the heating material, and that such chickens were absolutely sterile, and if the proc- t.->s were persisted in the race of fowls would necessarily die out." Similar prejudice against incubator chicks has persisted until within com- paratively recent years; but arliticial incubation has become .so liniily established, and, the exi>eri- mental stages having long been passed, the uietli- ods and appliances have been made so simple and l)raetical, that it is considered absolutely neces- sary in the rearing of fowls in large numbers. There were, of course, many failures in the early attempts to devise a practical incubator, al- though in the first application for a patent on such a device in this country, in 1847, some of the principles on which incubators should be constructed were stated with remarkable clear- ness and accuracy. Practical success with Fio. 2. MODERN INCCBITOR. modern incubators may be said to date from the Paris Exposition of 1877, at which Rouillier and Arnoult exhibited their 'hydro- incubator.' "This incubator," says Beale, "has a very large tank, holding about fourteen gallons of water, which is divided into three hori- zontal compartments, each communicating with the others by means of a few small holes. This tank is placed in a wooden case, and surrounded on all sides save the bottom (under which is the egg-drawer) by an inch or more of felt, or some other non-conducting material, tightly pressed down, ^■hen this tank is filled with hot water, it is found that the water loses only from two to five degrees every twenty-four hours, according to the temperature of the place where it is kept. If the witer in the top compartment only be drawn off, and that in the lower ones be left un- disturbed, the former being again filled with boil- ing water, the heat from this will graclu;illy af- fect the [temperature of the] lower body, and pre- vent its going down. By repeating this every twelve hours, the heat in the egg-drawer can be maintained at almost any degree of temperature, with a scarcely perceptible variation." Notwith- standing the simplicity and efficiency of incuba- tors of this l.vpe. attempts to devise a practical automatic, self-regulating incubator were per- sisted in until incubators of this kind have been brought to a high state of perfection, and have been generally adopted. Incubators of the auto- matic type are of two main classes — hot-water and hot-air. The advant.ages and disadvantages of the better makes of the two classes are very