COMMERCIAL EGGS IN THE CENTRAL WEST. 51 
of larger blood rings, 4,000,000. The amount of ammoniacal nitro- 
gen was in each case 0.0022 per cent on the wet basis. 
The counts of similar samples of eggs with blood rings which had 
not been kept for any extended period in a chill room varied from less 
than 1,000 to 950,000 for small blood rings and from under 1,000 to 
4,300,000 for large blood rings. Since the blood rings which were 
used in these samples underwent the same diversity of conditions 
before and during marketing as did the seconds, cracked eggs, dirty 
eggs, etc., they would be expected to show practically the same varia- 
tions in bacterial contents. 
The amount of loosely bound nitrogen in the samples of both small 
and large blood rings was no gTeater, and in many cases was less, 
than that found in stale eggs. These results are in accordance with 
those found by Pennington and Robertson,^ which they sununarize 
as follows: 
The amount of loosely bound nitrogen in incubated eggs, as determined by 
tbe Folin method, shows an interesting change. In the case of infertile eggs 
a very noticeable and quite regular increase takes place with time, while in 
the case of the fertile eggs the increase is very slight. Considering the content 
of loosely bound nitrogen as a criterion of protein decomposition, this is not 
surprising, since in the first case heat would be expected to increase catabolic 
processes, making for simpler nitrogen compounds, while in the second case it 
introduces metabolic oi* upbuilding processes. 
The product obtained from eggs containing small blood rings was 
normal in appearance, taste, and odof ; that obtained from eggs with 
large blood rings had a much lighter appearance; it was normal 
with respect to odor but had a flat, insipid, and uninviting flavor. 
It is evident, therefore, that changes had occurred which were re- 
corded by the senses and not by the examinations just described. 
Pennington and Robertson found that catalase increased in fertile 
eggs during incubation, but did not increase in nonfertile eggs held 
under the same conditions. It may be that the studies now under 
way on the sugar content of eggs will also throw some light on the 
changes occurring in fertile eggs during the process of incubation. 
EGGS WITH TURBIDITY IN THICK WHITE. 
It is observed that when eggs which have been in storage for some 
time are broken, many of them have a turbidity which is localized in 
the thick portion of the albumen, but this cloudiness disappears 
when the eggs are warm. That this is a physical change brought 
about hj low temperatures, and not by bacterial action, is indicated by 
the results given in Table 21 of the laboratory examination of six 
samples of eggs with cloudiness in the thick white. 
1 U. S. Dept. of Agr., Bureau of Chemistry Cir. 104. 
