to A PAPER ON EGGS, 



other bii'ds ; consequently the albumen and the shell arc of a 

 more or less pure ^vliite, not blue, or green, or red, and still less 

 is there any blood thrown out, either in the " uterus" or at either 

 sphincter; and therefore under such conditions, it is extremely 

 probable that little or no severe pain is experienced by the ma- 

 ternal bird. 



Then, as 'Mr. Hcwitsou, above quoted, points out, *'fear, or 

 anything that might affect the animal functions, exerts its in- 

 fluence upon the colour also. The eggs of birds I have captured 

 on theii' nests, during the time they were laying, and kept in 

 close confinement, have thus been deprived of much of their 

 colour." 



Such eggs have been formed, or finished, and laid, under very 

 unfavourable cii'cumstances, have been hurried thi'ough their 

 stages of formation and laid prematurely. 



"We know also that some wicked boys have been known at 

 times to have chased hens till they have laid white, shell-less, ol- 

 wind eggs. 



In human parturition, it is well known that on the occuiTcnce 

 of terror, fear, grief, or other violent emotion, or of certain dis- 

 eases, abortions (of ''white eggs," as they may be termed) may 

 take place, and that easily and with little delay or pain or hae- 

 morrhage, whereas, when all the necessary steps of the normal 

 process are allowed to be naturally carried out, the act is slow, 

 intermittent, severe, painful, and not without effusion of blood. 



When eggs have shells of a uniform blue ground colour, conges- 

 tion, though to only a small extent, is believed to have been 

 present in the ** uterus," and to have followed immediately after 

 the deposition of tlie first layer of the shell. 



In other cases in wliich the albumen or the shell is gi-cen, a 

 greater degree of excitement must have prevailed in the upper- 

 most part of the oviduct, or in the " utenis," than in the pre^'ious 

 case, a state bordering on, or partaking of, tlie inflammatoiy. 

 Take, for exampk\ n number of the eggs of Plovers or Guille- 

 mots ; in these the albumen is commonly green, the membrane of 

 the shell white, which indeed it always appears to be, and the 

 first layer of the shell itself is the same; but the succeedijig 



