COMMEKCIAL EGGS IN THE CENTRAL WEST. 27 
Like the eggs with dirty shells, there is a wide variation in the 
number of bacteria, though only 5 out of the 56 individual eggs listed 
are sterile in a dilution of 1 to 10, and when the count is beyond a 
few hundred organisms per gram it is generally very high — ^that is, 
in the hundreds of thousands or millions. Four eggs have a bacte- 
rial content which is much higher than that observed in the other 
52 eggs, ranging from 2,700 to 370,000,000 per gram. In three- cases 
out of the four an objectionable odor was noticed when the egg was 
opened, and three of these eggs had dirty as well as cracked shells. 
B, coU, though sought in all but five of the samples, were found in 
but three instances and then in eggs which showed a high count. 
Here, again, the whites of the heavily infected eggs show a much 
higher count than the corresponding yolks. This is quite in line with 
the origin of the infection. 
The samples from small lots of eggs with cracked shells bear out 
the findings from the individual eggs. Where the eggs with cracked 
shells are of good quality, both chemical and bacterial analyses indi- 
cate that fact. Where deterioration has begun, the cracking of the 
shell does not materially alter its course, but it hastens decay. Of 
course, the protection which the shell affords is lessened by cracking, 
and bacterial invasion is only a question of time and environment. 
EGGS HAVING THE YOLK SEEPING INTO THE WHITE. 
During warm weather, when the deterioration of eggs proceeds 
with gTeat rapidity and in the most diversified fashion, many eggs 
are received at the concentrating centers, especially those reached 
by railroad or where the wagon haul is over rough roads, which show 
on candling filaments of yolk that have apparently found their way 
through apertures in the vitelline membrane for longer or shorter 
distances into the white. 
Sometimes these filaments are very few and distinct, half an inch 
or more in length; in that case the egg white is usually normal in 
color, even between the filaments. Sometimes the seepage of the 
yolk into the white might be better described as diffuse, in which case 
very numerous and tiny filaments make, a yellow zone around the yolk 
membrane, the outer portions of white remaining clear and the usual 
color. As the process of mixing progresses the white becomes more 
and more yellow and the vitelline membrane less and less resistant, 
until finally the latter ruptures and a complete mixing of yolk and 
white follows. 
Even the most careful cracking of the shell at its equator is at 
times sufficient to rupture the yolk membrane extensively, thus per- 
mitting the yolk to escape entirely. At other times a fairly clean 
separation of white and yolk can be made. Generally such eggs ex- 
hibit, in addition to the filamentous yolk, distinct signs of age, such 
as shrinkage, and of rough handling, as shown by the movable air 
cell. Ordinarily the odor is good or somewhat stale, the sort of odor 
