52 MODES OF HATCHING. 



SECTION VII. 

 Hatching by Artificial Heat. 



THE EGYPTIAN mode of HATCHING EGGS having 

 been detailed in the former edition, and there being 

 little probability of its being resorted to in this coun- 

 try, only one person but myself, so far as I am in- 

 formed, having attempted it, I have been induced to 

 omit the detail, confining myself to the brief re- 

 cital of my own experiment, as a matter of curiosity. 

 And this omission I have made with the less reluct- 

 ance, as the celebrated Cuvier, in his Animal King- 

 dom, recently translated, has given the whole detail 

 of the Egyptian method, from the same source 

 whence I had previously extracted it. It is impos- 

 sible however to decide that the artificial practice 

 may not yet revive, as population increases. Even 

 the gas was, at first, strongly ridiculed and scouted. 



In the year 1782, whilst resident in Surrey, Reau- 

 mur's book first fell into my hands. I had often 

 heard of such a treatise, and being then much at- 

 tached to breeding poultry, I had a strong desire to 

 make trial of the Egyptian mode of hatching the 

 eggs. I had, in fact, already commenced, and our 

 endeavours were stimulated and amply assisted by 

 the presence of such a guide. We were, however, 

 soon satisfied by a trial upon a very small scale, and 

 can in a few words explain to the reader, both our 

 process, and the reason for its discontinuance. 



