$6 BULLETIN 846, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
half inch deep; separate any masses present by the fingers or forceps 
until the whole is a homogeneous mixture. By tilting the pan back 
and forth any thickened portions or black specks can be detected. 
These thickened portions of albumen and yolk, which may or may 
not be discolored, generally contain mold. Remove any suspicious 
pieces, and examine microscopically. If embryos are present they 
can be detected by a dark spot, which is the pigment in the eye. 
After carefully examining a panful in this manner, strain it through 
a sieve, usually one of the ordinary household type, 12 inches in 
diameter, with about 14 mm. mesh (or 16 or 20 meshes to the inch). 
Wash through the sieve all of the egg which will go through easily 
without rubbing. Search what remains on the sieve for mold, em- 
bryos, dirt, etc. The entire sample should be examined in this man- 
ner. Express results as number of each per 30 pounds of material. 
MICROSCOPICAL. 
Any pieces picked out of the egg as being suspicious must be ex- 
amined microscopically. If mold is present this examination wiil 
show the mycelium, which may be colorless or dark. Often spores 
are present. To detect the mycelium it is necessary to make a thin 
mount through which the light readily passes. The lighting must be 
carefully adjusted, however, as the mycelium is generally about the 
color of the egg. This requires only a small amount of each piece. 
The remainder, as well as the embryos and foreign material, should be 
preserved in 5 per cent formalin for court exhibit. It is unnecessary 
to make a microscopical examination for embryos, as those found are 
usually of from three to five days’ development. At this age they 
are well formed and easily recognized macroscopically. 
The analyst must become familiar with the appearance of various 
kinds of inedible eggs. This can easily be accomplished by obtaining 
rejects from a candling establishment and breaking them out. The 
spot eggs found in frozen eggs are heavy spots where the yolk is 
thickened and of a whitish appearance, or moldy spots, or spot eggs 
containing embryos. White rots can not be determined by this 
examination, as they are too intimately mixed with the whole mass. 
SUMMARY. 
Analytical results for eggs of the same quality agree very closely, 
no matter whether the eggs are produced and examined in Washing- 
ton, Philadelphia, New York, Chicago, or San Francisco. When 
carefully followed, the analytical methods described in this bulletin 
will give concordant results in the hands of a number of analysts. A 
formula has been devised which will separate into edible and inedible 
groups samples of liquid or frozen white, whole egg, yolky mixture, 
and yolk prepared from either fresh eggs or storage eggs. A formula 
for sugared yolk is also proposed. 
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