558 TjiAKSACTIOXS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



Mr. D, B. Briien. — Salt, Mr. Chairman, salt is the word. My 

 "wife always uses it, and I have always found the eggs thus kept 

 excellent, even several months after. Captain Smyrna adopts the 

 same practice, with success, in his long vo^^ages. 



Dr. J. Y. C. Smith. — The mode in vogue in Eussia, and held in 

 high esteem in Europe, is to pack the eggs in a cask, small end 

 downward, and ]iour melted tallow over them. For transportation 

 this plan has special attractions, and, as a general thing, I am disposed 

 to think it the best way. 



Mr. J. W. Gregory. — I have seen the recommendation to which 

 Mr. Curtis referred, and I believe the practice of those who adopt it 

 is to put the eggs in a basket, and dip them in boiling water for 

 thirty seconds. 



The Chairman. — You all do know that we had here on a previous 

 occasion some eggs which were fourteen months old. They were 

 preserved by Professor Nyce in his refrigerator building, a system, by 

 the way, which is not so impossible of general adoption as might 

 seem. Each and every house owner ought to have, and might have 

 at moderate expense, something similar on a small scale. Butchers 

 have got hold of the idea, and use it in their ice boxics. 



The Physiology oi? Eggs. 



Dr. J. Y. C. Smith gave the Club a valuable, though brief lecture 

 on this subject. Every fowl has two small organs near the extremity 

 of the body, called the ovaria. It is filled with elastic tissue, and 

 feels under the finger like sponge. The eggs are started here, and 

 those Mhich will mature a year, or two or three years hence, are ia 

 embryo. One is forced up, is seized by the stroma, which is seventeen 

 inches long, and passed rapidly through. AVhen the c^g leaves the 

 ovary, it consists of yolk only, but in its passage through that short 

 canal, the yolk is surrounded by enough albumen to perfect the chick. 

 The white of the egg has in it all that nature requires for making 

 bones, muscles, blood vessels, connecting tissue, skin and feathers. 

 Just before the egs, leaves the body, this canal has the power of 

 secreting lime for the shell. This shows how valuable the eQ:g is as 

 nutriment, and it also shows what demands are made for rich food 

 by a hen that lays an egg daily. Beside what she requires for her 

 substance, she is called upon to secrete the material for the body of 

 an entire chick, and also retain for the little creature sufficient to last 

 many hours after it leaves the shell. It shows also that a hen cannot 



