St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-01-16
PERIL IN OSTRICH EGGS.
Extraordinary Experience of Two
Man of Goia7pe

Extraordinary Experience Of Two
Men of Science.
New York Commercial Advertiser.
A peculiar explosion at the Carnegie
laboratory, on Twenty-siXth street, this
city, the other day brought to light
one of the most remarkable of phenom-
ena. Looking at an ostrich's egg, no
one would imagine any danger in them.
Even scientific men thought them HARM
less until the attempt to puncture one
for chemical purposes caused a great
shaking.
There is, however, one other Occa-
sion. recalled by DR.. George w. Weld,
of Is West Twenty-siXth street, i'll which
one of these monster eggs was known
to cause trouble, and more serious than
the one mentioned above. This was at
the Peabody museum, Yale, New Haven,
Conn.,. when DR.. George Baudr, an as
sistant of Prof. Marsh, tried an expert
menJ with two of the big eggs.
DR.. Bauer never quite understood why
it was that the first one he punctured
was perfectly harmless. as he supposed
them both to be, having opened like
hens egg. But when he came to file
the other it burst like dynamite bomb
and threw the doctor several feet.
many of the students into the laboratory
where he was working. he was found
unconscious in heap of detached
shelves and broken bottles. When they
pulled MIN out it was discovered that
some of the bottles contained dangerous
acids, and that he was badly burned III
several places, besides being cut with
the broken glass.
An investigation followed and DR..
Bauer gave the committee all the infOr-
nation he could, but why the egg eX-
ploded was left mystery. 1t is said
by a student who was present at the
college studying that Prof. Marsh
finally decided that something must
have been introduced into the egg of an
eXpl OSiVe nature, probably not Inten-
tionally, but With the idea or preserV-
ing it.
DR.. George Winter, of Carnegie lab
oratory, however, forwarded an argu-
ment much to the opposite of Prof.
Marsh. He is of the opinion that the
eggs with which he and DR.. Bower had
such disagreeable experiences were left
untouched, while the pure ones. he
thinks. were successfully doctored to
prevent the danger of fermentation.
However, he said nothing to his
friends regarding the cause of the sud-
den transformation until last evening,
when seated at table in the rear or
Toney Anderson's saloon, on Third av-
enue. with a party of his student
chums.
Now, tell US the story, old man."
said one of the boys. Did she 90 back
on yer?" And the doctor replied:
well, about year ago L sent to
scientific friend IN South Africa for
of
were shipped to this city from Cape
Town, Nov. Is, on the bark Iillie b,
which was wrecked near Trinidad dur
ing the voyage.
''Onlv a part of the cargo was saved,
but among that which reached New
York were my eggs-and here let me
state that L wish to God they had
dropped to the bottom OF the sea and
never risen"
"Why? Why?" was heard in many
different voices.
well, | got one of them, or rather
the contents thereof, in my whlskers
and hair, and after trying carbollc acld
on them for about week and remain
ing hOme-all of which was OF no avail
off they had to come"
Come OFF," said the deep basso OF
Harry Sammis. "YOu's given US er
steer"
"Oh, no, I'm not. What 1 have told
you is the truth"
More likely some one shaved yer
whiskers while you was asleep" put in
another
''No. [ assure you, you are all greatly
mistaken. 1t is as [ said, and if you'll
allow me, I'll tell you just how II hap
pened. The eggs arrived here two
weeks ago and l proceeded at once to
examine them. [ cut into two OF them
with a file without any bad results, but
when the third was punctured, 1t eX-
plOded like bOmbshell and threw me
| senseless on the floor.
just how long | remained in this
| condition | do not know. but upon my
recovery | found that | had sustained
several skin wounds. l was not badly
hurt. but the whole place was perme,
ated with the most horrible stencil
| think L ever smelled."
1.-The contents of this eggshell must
| have been fermented by its long vow
| age, and a terrible gas escaped. The
| slightest indentatiOn weakened the
| shell and it burst, and the gas, together
| with a fermented fluid, flew through
the air.
Il suddenly discovered that my hair
| was filed with the flying matter. The
! egg weighed three pounds and half an
ounce, and was eighteen inches in cir
| conference. Its contents were equal to
| that of twenty-five large mems eggs.
1T is peculiar that the two l opened
| first did not act in the same manner,
but 1 think from the smell when Op-
| ened them that they had been treated
with suiphate OF mercury, which pre-
| vents fermentation, and that the egg
| that exploded was neglected. Not fol
science nor anything else do care tC
monkey with ostrich eggs again. be-
| lieved that, had | not held a towe
! around the egg while opening it
| might have been killed"