The Morristown gazette. [volume] (Morristown, Tenn.) 1867-1920, 1880-02-25
rhe Process o., incubation.


There are many things the existence
of which the ma1ority Of us live and die
in ignorance of. Only by clese obseT'
vation do we acquaint ourselves with
some interesting facts, We know that
! hen sets three weeks before bringing
out her young; turkey sets four weeks,
er about twenty-six days; the common
duck nearly the same len0th Of time
while the robin brings out her hedgline
| in about eleven days. The young Of
the latter bird is not fully formed when
it comes from the shell. The eyes, beak <,
and feathers grow afterwardj and. tbs
body grows iht5 shape, requiring fully
| eleven days more before the young bird
can help itself, and indeed for many
days after leaving the nest it is fed and
cared for by the parents;
The "People's Practical Poultry
| Book" says of Incubation: The hen
has scarcely set on her eggs twelve hours
| before some lineaments of the head and
body If the chicken appear. The hsart
may be seen to beat at the end of the
second day of incubation. 1t has at
this time somewhat the form of q horse
shoe; but no blood appears. At. the
end OF two days two vessels of blood are
to be distinguished, the pulsation Of
which is very visible. One of these is
the left ventricle, and the other is the
root of the great artery. At the fftieth
hour one auriCle of the heart appears,
resembling . moose folded down upon
itself. The beating of the heart is first
observed in the arricle. and afterward
in the ventricle. At the end of seventy
hours the wings are distingtishable; +;
and on the head two bubbles are seen
for the brain, one for the bill, and two
for the fore and hind part of the head.
Toward the end Cf the fourth day the
two auricles already visible draw nearer
to the heart than before. The liver ap-
pears toward the end of the fifth day.
At the end of one hundred and thirty
one hours the first voluntary motion is
observed. At the end of seven hours
more the lungs and stomach become
visibleI and, four hours afterward, the
intestines, loins, and upper-jaw. At
the d-torty-fourth hour
the ventricles are visible, and two drops
Of blood, instead of the single one that
was seen before. On the seventh day
the brain begins to have some consist
ency. At the two-hundred-and-nine-
teenth hour the bill opens, and ths flesh
appears ON the breast. In four hours
more the breast bone is seen. In six
hours after this the tibs appear; (form-
ing from the back, } and the bill is clearly
visible, as well as the gall-bladder. The
bill becomes green at the end of two
hundred and thirty-six hours: and, if
the chicken be taken out of its covering
at this period. it evidently moves itself.
The feathers begin to shoot out toward
the northumberland -fortieth hour, and
the skull becomes gtistly. At the two
hundred and -eighty-ei ghth hour the ribs
are perfect. At the three-hundred and
thirty-frst hour the spleen draws near
the stomach, and the lungs to the chest.
At the end of three hundred and fifty
five houfs the bill frequently opens and
shuts, and at the end of the eighteenth
day the first cry OF the chicken is heard.
II afterward gets more strength, and
grows continually, till at length it is
enabled to set itself free from its con-
fnement" In the whole process, we
must remark that every part appears in
its proper time. If, for example, the
liver is formed on the fifth day, it ia
founded on the peceeding situation of
the chicken, and on the changes that are
to follow. No part of the body could
possibly appear sooner or later without
the whole embryo suffering.