28 



PRELIMINARY COLD STORAGE STUDIES. 



in the same sample in which the ether extract was estimated. The 

 sample was extracted eight hours with absolute alcohol directly into 

 the ether extract flask and the total phosphorus estimated in the 

 ether-alcohol extract, which is computed as the lecithin phosphorus. 

 The total nitrogen was determined by the official Kjeldahl-Gunning 

 method a and the amido bodies by the tannin-salt method. 6 The 

 proteose and peptone figures were determined by difference, the 

 uncoagulable nitrogen minus the amido nitrogen giving the proteose 

 and peptone nitrogen. The reaction which was determined in some 

 of the samples was obtained by titrating a dilute solution of the 

 whites and yolks with decinormal sodium hydrate or decinormal sul- 

 phuric acid, using phenolphthalein as indicator. The coagulable pro- 

 teid figures for the boiled samples were obtained by boiling 20 

 grams of the sample with 300 cc of water for three minutes, esti- 

 mating the nitrogen in an aliquot of the filtrate, and deducting the 

 figure thus obtained from the total nitrogen. 



The variations in weight referable to storage are given in the table. 



of weight per dozen eggs placed in cold storage May 24, 1906. 



Time of storage. 

 1906. 



September 7, 3.5 months. 



January 7, 7.5 months 



June 17, 12.6 months 



October 16, 16.6 months. . . 



1907. 



January 14, 19.6 months. 



1908. 



In all of the analyses of cold-stored eggs, the samples were removed 

 from the cold-storage rooms in the afternoon and immediately placed 

 in the ice box at the Bureau of Chemistry, where they stood over- 

 night, and the analysis was begun the following morning. The eggs, 

 therefore, did not stand at room temperature for any length of time. 

 What would have been the effect on the eggs of room temperature 

 for two or three days, as is often the case in the household, these ex- 

 periments do not show. 



PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS. 



Though the eggs had been kept at 1 F. above freezing, they showed 

 a marked tendency to sweat when transferred to ordinary tempera- 

 tures, the shells becoming very wet and also more brittle. After 

 breaking the shell and keeping at room temperature for one day, 

 the odor of the eggs in storage for 3.5 months was not unpleasant, 



"U. S. Dept. Agr., Bureau cf Chemistry, Bui. 107, Revised, 

 bj. Amer. Chem. Soc., 1906, 28: 1485. 



