4 BULLETIN 51, LT. s. DEPAKTMENT OF AGKICULTUEE. 
cent of the yolks examined there were no organisms present in 1 cc 
of the material, and the white of the egg was sterile in 1 cc quanti- 
ties in 32.18 per cent of the samples examined. Maurer^ reported 
81.9 per cent of the eggs he examined to be sterile, and stated that 
of the 18.1 per cent infected 82 per cent were infected in the yolk, 
25.9 in the white, and only 7.9 per cent in both yolk and white. 
Maurer used aseptic precautions in obtaining samples of the egg 
material examined. Stiles and Bates did not clean the shells, and 
their method of opening was to crack on the edge of a sterile Petri 
plate and shift the 3^olk from shell to shell in housewife fashion, to 
effect a separation of the two substances. The i^late used for crack- 
ing the shell was also the container of the sample. Maurer does 
not give the number of organisms occurring, merely stating their 
presence or absence. 
The bacterial content of fresh eggs has been proved to be widely 
diversified in the character of the organisms present, but their num- 
bers are small. The varieties of organisms present will be considered 
^elsewhere. It may be said, however, that Pennington ^ did not find 
B, coll in any of the 150 eggs examined; neither did Maurer in a 
study of 160 eggs, many of which had dirty shells or were placed 
under artificial conditions favoring shell penetration. B. coli were 
found on the shells in many cases. Stiles and Bates found one egg 
laid in the month of July that contained B. coli in the yolk. It is 
possible, however, that this might have been the result of contamina- 
tion while cracking on the edge of the Petri dish or separating white 
and yolk by the shell method of the housewife. With the exception 
of this one egg yolk wherein B. coli were reported, the examinations 
of fresh eggs do not, from a practical industrial viewpoint, show 
conflicting testimony. They agree fairly well in asserting that the 
fresh, well-handled egg^ though not always sterile, is not, on the other 
hand, infested by large numbers of bacteria, and B. coli are practically 
never present. 
After bad handling or mistreatment the number of organisms 
may, and frequently does, increase enormousl}^ AVhether they in- 
variably appear in numbers after bad handling or age has inter- 
fered with the integrity of some one or more of the component parts 
of the egg is a problem to be solved. The studies here chronicled 
are expected to throw some light on this question. Such studies 
would indicate also whether the large numbers of bacteria found in 
certain eggs are due to a rapid increase of the original organisms 
found in them even while still present in the oviduct, or whether an 
additional infection through the shell is common in the course of 
the usual routine of marketing. 
1 Bacteriological Studies on Eggs. Kansas State Agricultural College Bui. 180, 1911. 
2 J. Biol. Chem., 1910, 7 (2) : 109. 
