A PArER ON EGGS, 43 



II. — A Paper on JEggs. By D. Embleton, M.D. 



I. Peeamble. — Eggs have always been invested with special 

 interest : in ancient times they were regarded as objects of 

 worship, and they are still looked upon as symbols of the re- 

 surrection of the body and of eternity. To the Biologist they 

 present subjects for the study of the early phases of the evolu- 

 tion and development of the animal frame. They furnish a 

 delicious and eminently nutritive form of food alike for young 

 and old, the healthy and the invalid, when taken in moderation. 

 They have afforded to the Architect and the Decorative Artist 

 models of strength and beauty of outline. And it may be added 

 they have become of very great and increasing importance as ar- 

 ticles of commerce. 



The form, and also the colouring of eggs, are always pleasing 

 to the eye, and our interest in these beautiful objects would 

 probably be increased in proportion to our more intimate ac- 

 quaintance with them. And although an investigation into the 

 causes of their form and colour may seem to many to be a matter 

 so trivial as to be almost unworthy of notice, yet the lover of 

 nature and of her truths will not despise such inquiry, inasmuch 

 as it involves a manifold reference to the sciences of Human and 

 Comparative anatomy, and touches at more than one interesting 

 point the chemistry of the bile and the blood. 



The word Egg is of Teutonic origin. In Icelandic it is Egg ; 

 in Anglo-Saxon, Aeg or M^ ; in German, Ei or Ey ; in Dutch, 

 Ei ; in Flemish, Ei ; and in Danish, Ag, and Swedish, ^gg or 

 Agg, pronounced as Egg in English. 



In very early English (see Eichardson's Dictionary) the word 



is written, by Eobert of Brunne, Ay ; as, 



" An ay bi it sekie for fine schillynges was boiiht, 

 A pere for peuycs tuehie, or tlici had it uoulit." 



In Pier's Plouhman it is Egge; in plural, Eyrcn and Eiren. 



By Wiclif, it is written Eg ; as, 



" Or if he axe an eg, whether he schal arechc him a scorpiouu." 



In Chaucer, Ey ; as, 



" Hire bord was served most with white and bhick, 

 Miiic and bronn bred, in whicii she fond no hiciv, 

 Seindc bacon, and sometime an ey or twey." 



