CHEMISTRY OF A HEN'S EGG. 



TT is presumed that but few of those who break 

 the shells of the cooked eggs of our common 

 domestic fowls, at the breakfast table, ever think of 

 the wonderful nature of the structure they crush, 

 or of the complex chemical nature of the contents 

 consumed as food. To a large majority of people, 

 an egg is an egg, and nothing more. If the multi- 

 tude were inclined to^jnquire into the composition 

 of this curious embryotic substance, the impatience 

 of hunger which universally prevails at the com- 

 mencement of the morning meal would render the 

 houn quite unpropitious, and therefore we hardly 

 expect to secure the reader's attention until the 

 time arrives for lighting the evening lamp. 



Before proceeding to inquire into the ipterior 

 composition of the egg, we will consider the ex- 

 terior covering, or the shell, the physical and chem- 

 ical structure of which is exceedingly interesting 

 and wonderful. The white, fragile cortex called 

 the shell, composed of mineral matter, is not the 

 tight, compact covering which it appears to be, for 

 it is everywhere perforated with a multitude of 



