CHAPTER IV. 
DEVELOPEMENT. 
“ Meanwhile the tepid caves, and fens, and shores 
Their brood as numerous hatch, from the egg that soon 
Bursting with kindly rapture forth disclosed 
Their callow young; but feather’d soon and fledged 
They summ’d their pens; and soaring the air sublime, 
With clang despised the ground, under a cloud 
In prospect,” ..... 
Milton. 
Visible in the egg before us, but still not understood, 
lies the mystery of being. All the creatures of the earth 
originate from the same source ; all living things spring 
from the same germ—the egg. Thousands take an egg 
carelessly in the hand, and as many break the same with 
indifference so as to make use of the contents; these very 
persons are the last to reflect that when they break an 
egg they destroy a wonderful structure. A marvellous 
work indeed!—unequalled in its simple beauty of form, 
whose contents none can replace : the cradle of incipient 
being, as well as of newly awakened life, a shelter for the 
formation, clothing, and nutrition of a future creature— 
its preparation for the world ! Out of no other space can 
such greatness issue as from the egg; in no other space 
can such wonders be sheltered, live, and reach maturity, 
as in this small, insignificant, and, for that reason, but 
rarely valued structure for distributing and maintaining 
nature. 
We may cheerfully waive the consideration of the 
