Dodge City times. [volume] (Dodge City, Kan.) 1876-1892, 1878-04-13

lis again liquid. There is another wa,
by which the albumen is rendered solid
and that is by the application Of heat
Eggs placed in boiling water pass from
the soluble to the insOluble state quit,
rapidly, or, in other words, the albumer
both Of the white and the yelk becomes
coagulated." No contrast can bt
greater than that between boiled and
unboiled egg. Not only is it changed
physically, but there is change in
chemical properties, and vet no chemist
can tell in what the change consists. II
is true, the water extracts little alkali,
and trace of sulphide of sodium, but
the abstraction of these bodies is hardly
sufficient to account for the change in
question.
The hardening of the albumen OF
eggs by heat constitutes the cooking
process, and this deserves moments
consideration. Great as is the physical
and chemical difference between fully
cooked and an uncooked egg, ii is
no less remarkable in the degree of di-
feasibility conferred upon it by the pro-
cess. Uncooked, it passes by the most
simple processes of assimilation from
the digestive to the nutritive and circu-
latory organs, and is at once employed
in nourishing or sustaining the bodily
functions. Unduly cooked, the egg re-
sists the action of the gastric juices for
a long time, and becomes unsuited to
the stomachs of the weak and dyspeptic.
A raw or soft-boiled egg is of all varie-
ties of food the most concentrated and
nourisAing: hard-boilel egg is apt to
trouble the digestion of the strong and
healthful, and its nutritive properties are
sensibly impaired.
The yelk contains water and albumen,
but associated with these is quite large
number of mineral and other substances
which render it very complex in COM
position. The bright yellow color is
due to a peculiar fat or oil, which is
capable of rejecting the yellow rays of
light, and this oil holds the sulphur and
phosphorus which abound in the egg.
If the yelk be removed and dried, and
the yellow oil separated, it will be found
to form two-thirds of the substance.
The whole weight in its natural state is
about 800 grains, of which three-fifths
is water; of the white, more than three
quarters is water
The yelk and albumen of fecundat-
ed egg remains as sweet and free from
corruption during the whole time of in
cubation as it is in new laid eggs, and
there is but little loss of water. whereas
an unfecundated egg passes rapidly into
putrefactive decay and perishes.
ANY one who eats three or four eggs
al breakfast, consumes that number OF
embryo chicks. All the materials which
enter into the legs, bones, feathers, bill,
etc., of the newborn chick exist in the
egg, as nothing is derived from outside.
The little creature which has just peck
ed his way out of his calcareous prison.
house, has lime and phosphorus in his
bones, sulphur in his feathers, iron, pot
ash, soda, and manganese in his blood,
all of which mineral constituents came
from the egg, and are taken into
the stomach when it is eaten as food
The valuable or important salts are
contained in the yelk, and hence this
portion of the egg is the most useful in
some forms of disease. A weakly per-
son, in whom nerve force is deficient
and the blood impoverished, may take
the yelk of eggs with advantage The
iron and phosphoric compounds are in
condition to be readily assimilated, and
although homeopathic in quantity,
nevertheless exert a marked influence
upon the system. The yelks of eggs,
containing as they do less albumen, are
not so injuriously affected by the heat
as the white, and hard boiled yelk may
be usually eaten by invalids without in
convenience. The composition of a
fresh egg, exclusive Of the shell, may be
as follows:
ater.. ......................... "a parts.
AiDutnen.. II
vi OF lat. ..................-........ lO.5
Mineral salts. ........-............. Is 4"
100