PHYSIOLOGY OF THE OVIDUCT 123 
and about 2 ce. of the fluid drained into a bottle. This fluid 
was analysed, the following being the chemist’s report: 
Amount taken: 1.9860 grams being all of sample. 
Nitrogen found: 0.22 per cent. 
From this record it is clear that the fluid taken up by the egg 
in the uterus, is far from being water. It carries more than a 
fifth of 1 per cent of nitrogen. In other words it is a dilute albu- 
men. 
That the egg does not take water from the blood by osmosis, 
and in this way dilute the dense albumen to form the thin is 
further evidenced by the fact, shownby Atkins!8that in the domes- 
tic fowl the osmotic pressure of the blood is very considerably 
higher (nearly two atmospheres) than the osmotic pressure of the 
ege. In any osmotic exchange under these conditions water 
would tend to pass from the egg to the blood and not in the other 
direction. 
SUMMARY OF RESULTS 
Putting all the evidence together, the following account of the 
processes by which the hen’s egg acquires its protective and 
nutritive coverings summarizes the results of the present study. 
Certain of these results are novel and others confirm. the experi- 
ence of earlier workers. 
1. After entering the infundibulum the yolk remains in the 
so-called albumen portion of the oviduct about three hours and 
in this time acquires only about 40 to 50 per cent by weight of its 
total albumen and not all of it as has hitherto been supposed. 
2. During its sojourn in the albumen portion of the duct the 
eggs acquires its chalazae and chalaziferous layer, the dense 
albumen layer, and Gf such a layer exists as a distinct entity, 
about which there is some doubt) the inner fluid layer of albumen. 
3. Upon entering the isthmus, in passing through which portion 
of the duct something under an hour’s time is occupied instead 
of three hours as has been previously maintained, the egg receives 
its shell membranes by a process of discrete deposition. 
18 Atkins, W. R. G., Scientific Proceedings of the Royal Dublin Society, vol. 12 
(N. 8.) pp. 123-180, 1909. Cf. also Biochemical Journal, vol. 4, pp. 480-484, 1909. 
