ORDER GALLIN^E. 211 



the furnace. This column pierces the floor of the hatching- 

 room, rises into the interior, the centre of which it occupies, 

 and issues out by the top. 



The heat afforded by this central column filled with water, 

 is more constant and regular than any which had been 

 obtained before. It is regulated by thermometers, and mode- 

 rated in the upper part of the hatching-room by introducing 

 the external air, through the windows, and by means of the 

 pipes which stand between the tables. This heat, in the 

 lower part, when it has a tendency to diminish, is preserved 

 by the thickness of the wall, and by the woollen stuff with 

 which it is covered. Finally, to render this heat less drying, 

 water is placed in the hatching-room, the vapour of which is 

 measured by an excellent hygrometer, of M. Chapineau''s in- 

 vention, and which thus renders the heat as humid as that 

 which exhales from a sitting hen. 



Besides those methods which we have now described, many 

 others have been imagined in France, where strenuous efforts 

 have been made to rival the art of the Egyptians. It would 

 be equally superfluous and tedious to enter into any details 

 concerning them. They have been all more or less success- 

 ful ; and chickens have been produced in the various esta- 

 blishments founded on these plans. But, after all, the num- 

 ber little exceeded that which was obtained by the efforts of 

 the Greeks and Romans. It bore no sort of comparison to the 

 quantity produced annually in Egypt. Instead, therefore, of 

 dwelling any longer on the French systems, it will be more 

 interesting to our readers to give a short account of the 

 Egyptian plan, with Avhich we shall conclude this part of our 

 subject. 



The Egyptian buildings for hatching chickens in, are made 

 of brick, not burnt, but dried in the sun. The interior is 

 bisected longitudinally by a gallery or corridor, which sepa- 

 rates two parallel ranges of ovens, the number of which varies 



p 2 



