LAYING. 213 



suet, lard, or dripping ; but the best of these was proved to be 

 a mixture of mutton and beef suet, melted together over a 

 slow fire, and strained through a linen cloth into an earthen 

 pan. When thoroughly melted, an egg was dipped into it, 

 and immediately taken out again, when it was in a fit state to 

 be kept for twelve months or more. Five pounds of this 

 melted fat might prepare all the eggs produced in a neighbor- 

 hood in one season. 



The chief advantage in the use of this fat, rather than var- 

 nish, is, that the eggs rubbed over will boil as quickly as if 

 nothing had been done to them, the fat melting off as soon as 

 they touch the hot water ; whereas the varnish, not being 

 soluble even in hot water, only becomes moistened by it, and, 

 still hanging about the egg, prevents the transpiration of the 

 juices necessary to bring the egg into that state in which it is 

 to be eaten. When the egg, on the other hand, which has 

 been preserved by the fat, is taken out of the water, there 

 remains very little fatness upon it, and what there does, is 

 easily wiped off upon a napkin. 



The method of preserving eggs' by means of fat is greatly 

 preferable to that of varnish, when they are intended for put- 

 ting under a hen to be hatched ; for the fat easily melts away 

 by the heat, while the varnish remains and impedes the hatch- 

 ing. By this means, the eggs of foreign fowls might be car- 

 ried to a distance, hatched, and naturalized, in this and other 

 countries. 



The transpiration of matter from the egg was proved to be 

 as effectually stopped by the thinnest layer of fat as by a 

 thick coating, so that no sensible vestige be left on the surface 

 of the shell. All sorts of fat, grease, or oil, were found well 

 adapted to preserve eggs. M. Reaumur used butter, hog's 

 lard, olive oil, and similar substances, and thereby preserved 

 }ggs for nine months, as fresh as the day on which they were 

 /aid. 



