342 dr john davy's 



a little air ; that from No. 1 was found to consist of 20 of oxygen, 80 of azote ; 

 that from No. 2 was of like composition. In neither could any carbonic acid be 

 detected by milk of lime. 



The appearance and qualities of the contents of both these eggs were similar. 

 The white and yolk were distinctly apart, each confined in its proper membrane. 

 There was no unpleasant smell from either. The white was quite transparent, 

 with a slight yellowish tinge ; the yolks were of their natural colour, with here 

 and there spots of a lighter colour on their surface. The chalazse were readily 

 detached. Neither white nor yolk, when triturated with hydrate of lime, gave off 

 the slighest ammoniacal odour, nor showed more than a faint fume when brought 

 near a rod dipped in hydrochloric acid, a fume but little stronger than when water 

 was substituted. Under the microscope, the appearance of the yolk differed but 

 little from that of the yolk of an ordinary egg fresh and impregnated. 



The egg No. 3 was not now examined ; it was kept exposed to the air, with 

 No. 4. These, on the 16th of October, were found, on weighing, to have sustained 

 an additional loss — No. 3 of 96 per cent., No. 4 of 8-7 ; and on the 23d of Nov- 

 ember, when again weighed, of a further loss — No. 3 of 2-5 per cent., No 4 of 34. 



Broken under water, No. 3 gave off a good deal of air of an offensive smell, 

 that of sulphuretted hydrogen predominating. A portion collected was found to 

 consist of 15 per cent., absorbable by milk of lime, chiefly carbonic acid, and of 

 85 not diminished by phosphorus, chiefly, if not entirely, azote. The contents of 

 this egg were much changed : there was no distinct yolk or white, but a semifluid 

 mixture of a whitish milky hue, partly curdled, with which were intermixed 

 gelatiniform greenish masses, which, under the microscope, appeared to consist 

 of cells and granules, the former suggestive of a kind of mucedo. 



No. 4, broken under water, yielded a good deal of air, which had no odour, and 

 which, on examination, was found to consist of about 20 per cent, oxygen and 80 

 azote, without any appreciable quantity of carbonic acid. The contents of the egg 

 were hardly perceptibly altered ; as of Nos. 1 and 2 the white and yolk were 

 distinct, each in its proper membrane ; the white showed an alkaline reaction ; 

 the yolk neither an acid nor alkaline ; mixed with hydrate of lime, neither af- 

 forded a perceptible smell of ammonia. 



A second trial with unimpregnated eggs, conducted in the same manner as 

 the preceding, was made with some from a Bantam hen that had been kept 

 secluded. Five of her eggs a few days old (the oldest ten days) were put under 

 a hen on the 21st November, with two ordinary eggs, which in due time were 

 hatched, producing healthy chickens. On examination, after twenty-one days, 

 two of the Bantam eggs were found broken. The remaining three were undergoing 

 putrefaction; their contents were very offensive, a fluid, of a greenish hue, contain- 

 ing scattered through it small masses of a dark green colour, almost black. Under 

 the microscope, its lighter portion exhibited granules and oil globules, its darker 



