264 THE LIFE OF A BIRD. 



chickens in every direction. The president's lady 

 would needs be one of the first, and she desired 

 that the experiment might be made immediately 

 in her sight. A great princess followed her ex- 

 ample ; and both were gratified in rearing chickens 

 out of a hot-bed of fermenting manure. Gradu- 

 ally, however, the fashion became obsolete, its 

 novelty was lost, and, as regards its economical 

 application, it proved a failure. 



In 1840, the curious machine called the " eccale- 

 obion," a word signifying " to call forth life," was 

 exhibited in London. It was considered that in 

 this contrivance all the difficulties of artificial 

 incubation had been overcome, and that the result 

 of its operation was perfectly successful. This 

 machine was capable of containing two thousand 

 eggs, and resembled an oblong box nine feet long, 

 three broad, and the same in height. Its inventor 

 asserted that it possessed a perfect and absolute 

 command over temperature from 300 degrees of 

 Fahrenheit, to that of cold water. So that any 

 object submitted to its influence would be uni- 

 formly acted upon over its whole surface at any 

 required intermediate degree within the above 

 range. It was also said that the heat could be 



