RfiAUMUR 261 



opened the varnished eggs, and found that they had the 

 appearance and flavour of fresh eggs. Eggs which had 

 been kept in water for two or three days looked fresh, 

 but had already lost the natural flavour. Eggs which 

 had been boiled when fresh, and were merely warmed 

 up again before eating, were not well-tasted. Reaumur 

 kept varnished eggs for two years, and found that they 

 still appeared fresh, though their taste was not so 

 pleasant as that of fresh eggs; they resembled eggs 

 which had been kept in water for a few days. He goes 

 on to explain that a particular way of dipping the eggs 

 in varnish is much less laborious than painting them 

 with a brush. He fixed a thread to one end by means 

 of sealing-wax, and was thus enabled to dip the egg and 

 afterwards hang it up to dry.^ 



Reaumur thought it possible that his varnished eggs 

 might be hatched and made to yield live chicks. He 

 knew that the varnish must be removed before the eggs 

 were set under the hen, and he could think of no good 

 way of doing this. It is not surprising that his varnished 

 eggs failed to produce live chicks. One such egg^ 

 however, one of four which had been very carefully 

 cleaned from the varnish, did contain a chick with 

 feathers nearly ready to hatch out ; whether accidentally 

 or not, it proved to be a monstrous chick with four legs. 



The effect of temperature upon the fowl's egg is not, 

 Reaumur perceived, a simple or direct action. In air 

 which is cooled far below the temperature of the blood the 

 egg may remain long unchanged ; a rise of temperature 

 within certain limits promotes putrefaction. A tempera- 

 ture may be reached which starts the development of 

 the chick within the egg, and this hinders putrefaction ; 



1 Dipping in l)oiling water, so a« to coagulate a Huperfioial film of albumcD, 

 haw been found beneficial. 



