Eaten constantly, as in pastry or the New-England doughnut,
it is not only indigestible, but becomes the source of forms of scrofulous
disease. It is often a convenient substitute for butter, but if it must be
used, would better be in connection with the harmless fat.
Eggs come last; and as a young animal is developed from them, it follows
that they contain all that is necessary for animal life, though in the
case of the chicken the shell also is used, all the earthy matter being
absorbed. In a hundred parts are found fourteen of nitrogen, ten and a
half of fatty matter, one and a half of saline matter, and seventy-four of
water. Of this water the largest part is contained in the white, which is
almost pure albumen, each particle of albumen being enclosed in very
thin-walled cells; it is the breaking of these cells and the admission of
air that enables one to beat the white of egg to a stiff froth. The fat is
accumulated in the yolk, often amounting to thirty per cent. Raw and
lightly-boiled eggs are easy of digestion, but hard-boiled ones decidedly
not so. An egg loses its freshness within a day or so. The shell is
porous; and the always-feeding and destroying oxygen of the air quickly
gains admission, causing a gradual decomposition.
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