232 ON GENERATION. 



EXERCISE THE SIXTEENTH. 



Second inspection of the egg. 



The second day gone by, the circles of the cicatrieula that 

 have been mentioned, have become larger and more conspicuous, 

 and may now be of the size of the nail of the ring-finger, 

 sometimes even of that of the middle finger. By these rings 

 the whole cicatricula is indistinctly divided into two, occa- 

 sionally into three regions, which are frequently of different 

 colours, and bear a strong resemblance to the cornea of the eye, 

 both as respects dimensions, a certain degree of prominence, 

 and the presence of a transparent and limpid fluid included 

 within it. The centre of the cicatricula here stands for the 

 pupil ; but it is occupied with a certain white speck, and ap- 

 pears like the pupil of some small bird's eye obscured by a 

 suffusion or cataract, as it is called. On this account we have 

 called the entire object the oculum ovi, the eye of the egg. 



Within the circles of the cicatricula, I say, there is contained 

 a quantity of perfectly bright and transparent fluid, even purer 

 than any crystalline humour ; which, if it be viewed transversely 

 and against the light, the whole spot will rather appear to be 

 situated in the albumen than sunk into the membrane of the 

 yelk, as before : it presents itself as a portion of the albumen 

 dissolved and clarified, and included within a most delicate 

 tunica propria. Hence I entitle this fluid the oculum seu colli- 

 quamentum album ; it is as if a portion of the albumen, lique- 

 fied by the heat, shone apart, (which it does, unless disturbed 

 by being shaken,) and formed a more spirituous and better 

 digested fluid, separated from the rest of the albumen by a 

 tunica propria, and situated between the two masses of liquid, 

 the yelk and the albumen. It differs from the rest of the 

 albumen by its clearness and transparency, as the water of a 

 pellucid spring differs from that of a stagnant pool. The tunic 

 which surrounds this fluid is so fragile and delicate that, unless 

 the egg be handled with great care, it is apt to give way, when 

 the pure spring is rendered turbid by a mixture of fluids. 



I was long in doubt what I should conclude as to this 



