64 BULLETIIT 51, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
All the sampler examined show a high count of bacteria. One 
sample (4269) has more than a billion organisms per gram and all 
the samples but three have more than 100,000,000. On the score of 
numbers of bacteria these eggs rank with black rots. The table 
gives first a series of eggs in which the odor is but faint and which 
might easily be passed by the careless or too rapid grader. Part II 
gives another series in which the odor was distinct and Part III 
gives three samples in which the odor was pronounced. It will be 
noted that these last three samples are individual eggs, and that a 
physical deterioration in two of the three has proceeded so far that 
the vitelline membrane has ruptured. 
The bacterial content of the eggs with a faintly sour odor and those 
with a distinctly sour odor is about the same, with the exception of 
Sample 4256, in which the bacterial count agrees with the eggs in 
Part III in having a decidedly sour odor. 
The great number of organisms invariably present is, however, 
the noteworthy feature. Aside from the numbers of organisms, the 
BcbcUlus colon was found in every sample examined, a condition 
which, up to this time, has not been observed for any other single 
type of deteriorated ^gg. Not only are B, coli present, but the num- 
ber, as determined by lactose bile fermentation, is usually at least 
a million, and may be 10 million. In some of the samples listed as 
showing a million, more may have been present, because the dilutions 
were not made beyond this point. Had they been it is quite probable 
that the coli organisms would have been found to be more numerous 
than the analyses indicated. One sample (41016) was separated into 
whites and yolks. The count in the whites is double that in the yolks, 
which may indicate an infection from the exterior, though more 
work must be done with the two portions of the egg before accepting 
this suggestion as a fact. 
Where organisms liquefying gelatin were sought they were found 
and in comparatively large numbers. Hence, there is in these eggs 
a condition very much like that noted in the eggs with a green white, 
namely, a mixed infection aggregating large numbers of individual 
organisms and characterized by the presence of one distinguishing 
species. 
The amount of loosely bound nitrogen is higher than that com- 
monly observed in seconds, which, on the average, is 0.00G7 per cent 
on the water- free basis. The range, omitting Sample 4256, which is 
exceptionally high, is from 0.0102 to 0.0194 per cent, with an average 
of 0.0134 per cent, all these values being on the water-free basis. 
The water content of the samples varies from 69.52 to 75.48 per cent, 
indicating a decided variation in the age of the eggs as measured by 
shrinkage. 
