28 OUR HUMBLE HELPERS 



the air from reaching it. The egg must have air so 

 that its substance, gently warmed by the brooding 

 mother hen, may spring into life and become a little 

 chicken; it must have it continually, shut up as it is 

 in its shell. Thanks to the openings with which the 

 shell is riddled, the air penetrates sufficiently to meet 

 the needs of respiration ; it quickens the substance of 

 the egg and the little being slowly forming within." 



"One might say," Emile here put in, "that these 

 holes are so many little windows through which air 

 reaches the bird in its narrow cell of the egg. ' ' 



"These windows, as Emile calls them," his uncle 

 went on, "deserve our attention from another point 

 of view. Eggs are a precious alimentary provision ; 

 the difficulty is to keep them for any length of time. 

 If they get too old they spoil and give out then an 

 infectious, bad smell. Well, then, what causes the 

 eggs to spoil and changes them to repulsive-smelling 

 filth is again air the same air so indispensable to 

 the formation of the chicken. That which gives life 

 to the egg under the heat of the brooding hen brings 

 destruction just as quickly when the warmth is want- 

 ing. If, then, it is proposed to preserve in a state 

 of freshness as long as possible eggs destined for 

 food, it is necessary to prevent the access of air into 

 their interior, which is done by closing the openings 

 in the shell. Several means may be employed. 

 Sometimes eggs are plunged for a moment into 

 melted grease, from which they are drawn out cov- 

 ered with a coating that obstructs all the orifices; 

 sometimes they are varnished. The simplest 



