EGG. 683 EGG COCKLE. of diet. The same can hardly be said of a Chi- nese product which has often been described. Ducks' ejrgs are buried in the ground lor ten or twelve months, and undergo a peculiar fer- mentation. The hydrogen sulpliide formed breaks the shell and escapes, while the egg be- comes hard in texture. The linal product, it is said, does not possess a disagreeable odor or taste. DiSE.SES Calsed by Egg-Eati.nc. Some per- sons are habituall,v nuidi; ill b,v eating eggs, just as there aie those who cannot cat strawberries or other food without distress. Such cases are due to some personal idios,vncras.v. Over-indul- gence in eggs, as is the case with other foods, may induce indigestion or other bad effects. Furthermore, under certain conditions, eggs nia,v be the cause of illness bv communicating some bacterial disease or some parasite. It is possible for an egg to become infected witlt micro-organ- isms before it is laid, as well as after. The shell is porous, and offers no gieater resistance to micro-organisms which cause disease than it does to those which cause the egg to spoil. If the infected egg be eaten raw, the micro-organ- isms present may gain entrance to the tissues and cause disease. Judged by tlic comparatively small niunber of cases of infection or poisoning due to eggs reported in medical literatuie, the danger of disease from this source is not very great. However, in view of its possibility, it is best to keep eggs as clean as possible, to reject or thoroughly cook dovibtful ones, and thus en- deavor to prevent infection. CoMMEBCiAL IsipoRTAXCE. The egg industry is of considerable conunercial importance. The total number of eggs produced in the United States in 1890 was estimated to be 820.000.000 dozen, and these figures arc quite often said to be too low. The United States formerl.v imported a large number of eggs, and exported verv few. The ratio has recentl,v changed, and now the exports largely exceed the imports. Egg Powders. Desicc.tei) Eggs, and Egg StiiSTiTUTES. Several methods of evaporating or desiccating eggs have been proposed, and products which claim to be prepared in these ways are now on the market. The egg is dried in or out of a vacuum, usually by a gentle heat or by currents of air. Before being placed on the market, the material is >is>ially ground. Sometimes salt and sugar are used as preserva- tives. As will be seen b.v reference to the above table of composition, such products are merely eggs from which the bulk of water has been removed. If the process of manufacture be such that the resulting product is palatable and keeps well, the value of evaporated eggs for many purposes is evident. This material is used by bakers, to some extent, as being cheaper, when fresh eggs are high in price. Since, if all the water be removed in preparing evaporated eggs, one poimd of the dried product will furnish ma- terial equivalent to about four pounds of fresh eggs, and since desiccated foods have the advan- tage over the fresh substances of reduced bulk, evaporated eggs are used in provisioning camps and expeditions. Egg substitutes have been devised which con- sist of mixtures of animal or vegetable fats, albumen, starch or flour, coloring matter, and some leavening powder in addition to the niin- •eral matters similar to those found in the egg. Vol. VI. —h. Such products are designed to resemble eggs ia composition. One has been manufactured from skim-milk containing the casein and albumen of the milk, mixed with a little Hour. It is put up in the form of a paste or powder. Other egg substitutes have been marketed which contain little or no albumen, but which apparently consist quite largely of starch, more or less colored, with some yellow substance. These goods, sometimes called 'pudding' or 'custard powder,' are spe- ciall,v recommended for making custards and pud- dings similar in appearance to those in which fresh eggs are used. There is no reason to sup- pose that such products cannot l)e made so that they will be wholesome and perfectl.y harmless; but the fact must not he overlooked that in the diet the,v cannot replace fresli eggs, since they do not contain much nitrogenous matter or fat. This mav be an important matter if such an egg substitute be used in the diet of invalids, especiall,v if the composition of the egg sul)stitute is not known, and it be employed with the belief that, like eggs, it contains an abundance of protein. EGG, AfGfSTUS Leopold (lSl(!-G;i). An Eng- lish artist, born in-London. He became a painter of genre pictures, and. like Leslie and Newton, chose his subjects from literature and history. His pictures show a greater feeling for color than Leslie's, but are without his humor, and in a scene from "Le Diable Boitcux" ( 1844. National Gallery) he shows an execution far superior to Newton's. The influence of the Pre-Raphaelitcs is traced in Pepys's Introduction to Nell Gwynue" (1851). Among other noteworthy paintings are "Peter the Great Sees Catherine for the First Time" (1860) ; "The Night Before Naseb,y" (1859) : and "Katherine and Petruchio" (18t;o"). In 1860 Egg became a Royal Acade- mician. EGG, or EIGG. An island of the Inner Heb- rides ( q.v. I group, 1'2 miles off the west coast of Inverness-shire. Scotland, and eight miles south- west of Skve (Map: Scotland, B 3). It is about six and one-half miles long, and terminates on the southwest in the remarkable Scuir of Egg, which rises to 1346 feet. The upper 470 feet of this hill is a mass or vein of pitchstone. Some of the pitchstone forms straight, inclined, or curved columns, which varv in diameter from a few inches to nearl.v two feet. In the south part of the island is a large cave, entered by a narrow opening, through which but one person can creep at a time. Here, in the sixteenth ccnturv. a feudal laird of Jlacleod. to revenge an injury done to some of his elan, smoked to death all of the inhabitants (200 Macdonalds) of the island, who had hidden themselves in the cave. Population, 250. EG'GA. A town of Xupe, in British Nigeria, West Africa, situated on the right bank of the Niger (Map: Africa, E 4). Its commerce is very important, and it has a considerable tran- sient popvilation. The inhabitants, who number about 10,000, are chiefl.v engaged in trade. EGG BIRD. Any wild bird whose eggs are regularly sought as food by mankind; espceiiilly, a gull or tern, and, in particular, the sooty torn. See Tern. EGG COCKLE. The common edible cockle of Europe. See Cockle.
