Dr. Couney emigrated to the United States, settled in Coney Island, set up a live incubator display there in Luna Park in 1903 and had an exhibit on the Boardwalk every summer for the next 40 years. (He also displayed infants at the exposition in Chicago in 1933 and the New York World’s Fair in 1939.) At Coney Island, a sign proclaimed, “All the World Loves a Baby,” and barkers yelled, “Don’t pass the babies by.”

Disapproved of by some in the medical establishment as a tasteless showman, Dr. Couney was credited with saving thousands of children and was offered infants by doctors and hospitals. He told interviewers that he would give up his carnival display when there were decent medical alternatives. “Even today,” A. J. Liebling wrote in 1939 in an article about Dr. Couney, “it is difficult to get adequate care for premature infants in a clinic. Few New York hospitals have set up special departments for their benefit.” Babies under Dr. Couney’s care, most of them weighing less than three pounds, were scrupulously monitored; Mr. Leibling noted that the doctor employed numerous wet nurses, who supplied the milk, as well as trained nurses in eight-hour shifts. Any wet nurse caught eating a hot dog or having an orange drink was fired. While the 25-cent admission fee kept Dr. Couney comfortable, he never took a cent from the babies’ parents.

Dr. Julius H. Hess of Chicago, a leading American expert on prematurity, greatly respected Dr. Couney, according to Dr. Silverman. In 1937, Dr. Couney was honored by New York’s Medical Society. Contemporary news accounts said Dr. Couney had incubated more than 8,000 babies and saved at least 6,500 of them. When specialized hospital care for premature babies increased in the 1940s, Dr. Couney closed his show. He died in 1950.

Q. For years, my husband and I have admired the sculpture of a man sitting on a small bench, on the west side of Broadway between 61st and 62nd Streets. Imagine our shock when walking past the spot and seeing — nothing! It was a favorite of tourists to sit next to the man and have their photo taken there. What happened to it?

A. It moved downtown.

The statue was the property of the American Bible Society, whose headquarters recently moved to Philadelphia. The Museum of Biblical Art behind the statue closed in June. But the statue has been relocated to the lobby of the King’s College, a Christian liberal arts college at 56 Broadway in the financial district.