The Tiffin tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1868-1887, 1874-08-13
ABOUT EGGS.
CuriOHs Facts and Experiments.

The ability with which the late Prof
( 4 yassiE argued that an egg is the orig
| in Of all Snimal life, and the wonder
| ful .Hrray of facts and collateral eyi
dene which he marshzle;i 10 the sun
port Of his favOrite theory will Iont
cOnsti tute a notable chapter in mod.
ern scientific history.
Passing, however, from this Incl.
dental reference to 3 discussion so re.
/ cOndite and controversial, as moi
within the scope or intention of this
article, the interesting and, We believe,
! unehallenged assertion OF DIR. Liebig,
that eOmplete nutriment with which
/ to sustain life, has practical bearing
| of more importance TO the wants and
welfare of men than any scholastic
/ hypothesis, however profound end
ingenious.
1he reason the egg presents such ali
mentary adaptness IS easily under
stood. The yOlk and white consists
chiefly of albuminOus matters-the
yOlk of cssein and albutneu, the white
| of soluble albumen, containing more
sulphur than the ambiguous COM
an albuminous body con-
tanning a large quantity OF sui
phur scantily soluble and forming
cellules in the shape Of membranes,
which include the soluble albumeD.
The white of egg contains more water
| than the yOlk somewhat more than
one half of the latter and and some
of the four fifths of the former. con-
sisting OF water. The yOlk Is also, in
nearly similar proportions, richer
than the white in fat and albuminOus
substances and the yellow all OF the
yolk contains a large quantity of
OIeine, With little margine, less
phosphorus fat, and still less gall fat.
For the egg to represent q really COM
pIete nutrlment there is nothing more
needed, in addition 10 the properties
above named, but the salts and ohlOr-
inc compounds of the blood, and all
these are found in the inorganic con-
stituents both of the white aud the
yOlk.
A curious point of inquiry among
biologists has been, for long time,
how many eggs there are in the Ovary
OF a hen. To determine this, u Ger
man naturalist,a short time since, In
stituted some careful Investigations.
the result of which showed the Ovary OF
hen tO contain about six hundred
eggs. He also found that some twen-
ty of these are matured the first year,
about l20 during the second year, l35
during the third, ia during the
fourth, and during the fifth, sixth,
seventh and eighth years the number
decreases by twenty annually, it con-
sequentIy following that after the
fourth, or at most, the fifth year, hens
are no longer profitable as layers, uu.
less It may b. in exceptional in
stances.
Some interesting experiments were
also made short time since in Ger
many, to determine the comparative
feeundity OF ducks and hens-that Is,
from which OF the two the larger
number of eggs can be Obtained in the
same time. For This purpose three
hens and three ducks We're selected,
all Matched in February, and nOurish-
ed with suitable food. In the follow
ing autumn the ducks laid 225 eggs,
while the hens laid none. In the next
February the laying season began
again with the ducks, and continued
uninterrupted till August. They show
ed no inclination to set, but became
very thin, although they afterward
fatLened up somewhat. TIE total num-
Der OF eggs laid by the hens amounted
to 257, or SO eggs each, and 392, or l3l
each for the ducks. Although the eggs
of the ducks were rather smaller than
those of the hens, yet they proved to
be decidedly superior in nutritive ma
terial, so that the superiority in pro-
ductiveness was decidedly with the
ducks.
In regard to the means or possibility
of deciding the sex of eggs, muehydif-
ference of opinion exists. But NJ.
Genin, in a communication to the
French Academy of Science on this
subject, states that he is now able, af-
ter having investigated the matter
carefully for several years, to state
with assurance that all eggs contain
ing the germ of males have wrinkles
on their smaller ends, while female
eggs are smooth at the extremities.