32 OUR HUMBLE HELPERS 



"Let us go on with the egg. Now conies the glair 

 or white, so called because heat hardens it to a pure 

 white matter. For the same reason, science calls it 

 albumen, from a Latin word, albus, meaning white. 

 The glair is arranged in a number of layers, which 

 at both ends of the egg twist round one another and 

 form two large knotty cords called chalazcc. To see 

 these cords you must break a raw egg carefully in a 

 plate. Then you can distinguish, on each side of the 

 yolk, a mass where the glair is thicker and rather 

 knotty. There, somewhat injured by the breaking of 

 the egg, are found the two cords in question. To 

 give you a clear idea, take an orange, put it in your 

 handkerchief, and twist the latter in opposite direc- 

 tions at both ends. The orange in its handkerchief 

 covering will represent the spherical yolk sur- 

 rounded by the glair; the two twisted ends of the 

 handkerchief will be the two strings of white, the two 

 chalazae. By means of these two tethers the yolk, 

 the most important and most delicate part of the egg, 

 is suspended as in a hammock, in the center of the 

 glair, without being exposed to disturbances that 

 would be dangerous for the germ of life situated at 

 a point on its surface. This glairy hammock, with 

 its two suspending cords, has another role a very 

 delicate one. The first outlines of the coming chick 

 will appear at a certain point of the yolk. As the 

 little being forms and grows, it needs more space 

 while still remaining tightly enveloped and held in 

 position so as to avoid the slightest disturbance in 

 the half fluid flesh just beginning to assume its 



