[225] EXERCITATIO DUODECIMA.
De reliquis ovi partibus.

12th exercise
The remaining parts of the egg

UBI autem, quando, et quomodo reliquae ovi partes generentur, in historia uteri partim iam diximus; partimque postea, ubi de earum utilitatibus agetur, dicemus.

Where, when and how the remaining parts of the egg are produced I partly already told in the description of the uterus, and partly I will subsequently say when I will deal about their utilities.

Albumen, inquit Fabricius[1], ovi albus liquor, Plinio; ovi candidum, Celso; ovi albor, Palladio; ovi album et albamentum, Apicio; Graece λευκὸν; ab Aristotele ὠοῦ λεύκωμα; ab Anaxagora, ὄρνιθος γάλα, lac avium dicitur. Estque ovi liquor frigidus, lentus, albus, varius crassitie (nam ad obtusam, acutamque ovi partem liquidius, in aliis partibus crassius visitur); et copia (copiosior enim est ad obtusam ovi partem, minus ad acutam, et adhuc minus in caetera ovi parte) vitellum undique obtegens et cingens.

Fabrizi* says: «The albumen for Pliny is ovi albus liquor – white fluid of the egg, ovi candidum for Celsus*, ovi albor for Palladius*, ovi album and albamentum for Apicius*. In Greek it is called leukón; by Aristotle øoû leúkøma - white of the egg; by Anaxagoras* is called órnithos gála - milk of hen, milk of the birds. The liquid of the egg is cold, viscous, white, varying for density (in fact toward the obtuse and acute part of the egg it is more liquid, in the other parts it appears denser); and for quantity (in fact it is more abundant toward the obtuse part of the egg, less toward that acute one, and still less in the remaining part of the egg) it covers and surrounds the yolk on all sides.»

Ego vero in ovo gallinaceo non modo varium albumen observavi, sed etiam duplex; utrumque propria membrana involutum: alterum tenuius, liquidius, et eiusdem ferme consistentiae cum humore illo, quem ex uteri plicis manantem, albuminis materiam et nutrimentum diximus; alterum albumen est crassius, et viscosius, pauloque magis ad albedinem vergens; in vetustioribus autem et requietis ovis, post aliquot dierum incubationem, subflavescens. Ut secundum hoc albumen vitellum undique obtegit, ita liquor ille exterior ipsum circumambit. Bina haec albumina distincta esse, vel hinc constat: Si, ablato cortice, membranam utramque proximam penetraveris, videbis alborem liquidum et exteriorem protinus effluere; iisdemque membranis hinc inde in patinam reclinatis, interius tamen et crassius albumen locum et figuram suam globosam servat; utpote membrana propria, tenuique adeo ut visum prorsus effugiat, [226] terminatum; hanc autem si secueris, secundum albumen illico huc illuc sparsum effluit, et figuram rotundam amittit; perinde atque e vesica secta humor in ea servatus prorumpit; et disrupta propria vitelli membrana, liquor croceus egreditur, et globositas pristina subsidit.

Truly in an hen's egg I have not only observed an albumen of different colour, but also double, every one wound by its own membrane. One is slimmer, more liquid and almost of the same consistence of that liquid springing from the folds of the uterus, and which  I told to be the matter of the albumen and the nourishment. The other one is a denser and more viscous albumen and verging a little bit on the white colour, but which in older and not fresh eggs after an incubation of some days is pale yellow. Like this second albumen completely surrounds the yolk, so that more external liquid surrounds it. That these two albumens are distinct, it also results from this: if, after having removed the shell, you will have penetrated the two membranes near each other, you will see the liquid and more external whiteness to immediately flow out, and after having well stretched in a dish these membranes, nevertheless the more inside and denser albumen keeps its position and its globular shape, since it is delimited by a proper membrane and thin to such a point that almost escapes the sight. If you will cut this membrane, the diffusely spilt second albumen flows out and loses the round aspect, as also from a cut bladder the content liquid escapes with strength. And when the membrane proper of the yolk has been broken, the saffron colour liquid escapes and the primitive globosity flattens.

Vitellus, ait Fabricius[2], a vita dicitur, quod eo vivat pullus; dicitur quoque a colore, ovi luteum: Graece, χρυσὸν; Hippocrati, χλωρὸν; Aristoteli, ὠχρὸν, et λέκιθον: Antiqui, ut Suidas ex Menandro, νεοττὸν, id est, pullum appellarunt; quod existimarent ex ea ovi parte pullum nasci. Est ovi liquor mollissimus, tenuissima membrana obductus, qua abrupta effluit, neque amplius in se constans detineur; in medio ovi consistens; colore modo luteo, modo inter flavum et pallidum medio; perfecte rotundus; magnitudine varius, pro pennatorum magnitudinis varietate, palustria enim plus lutei, terrestria plus albi habere scribit Aristoteles[3]. Hoc eodem auctore, luteum ovorum atque albumen contrariam naturam obtinent; non solum colore, sed etiam potestate. Luteum enim a  frigore densatur; albumen non densatur, sed magis liquescit. Contra ab igni spissatur albumen, luteum non spissatur, sed molle permanet, nisi peruratur. Et elixando, quam assando, plus concrescit, atque siccatur. Et quemadmodum in mundo maiore, terra in centro posita, aqua et aere circundatur; ita pariter vitellus, ovi pars terrestrior, duobus albuminibus, crassiore et tenuiore, ambitur. Imo vero teste Aristotele[4], si quis vitellos atque albumina multa exempta, inque patinam indita commiscuerit, atque elixarit igne molliore remissioreque; lutea tota massa in medium coit orbiculare, alba autem huic circumfunditur. Medici autem plurimi albumen esse partem ovi frigidiorem statuunt. Sed de his posthaec plura.

Fabrizi says: «The vitellus - or yolk - is called from the life - vita, since thanks to it the chick lives. For the colour it is also called the yellow of the egg: in Greek it sounds chrysós - gold, for Hippocrates chløròs - yellow green, for Aristotle øchròs - yellow - and lékithos - legumes purée. The ancients, as the lexicon Suidas* getting it from Menander*, called it neottós - baby of bird, that is, chick, since they thought that the chick was born from that part of the egg. The yolk is a very soft liquid of the egg, wrapped by a very thin membrane, and when it is broken, the yolk escapes and stops to be reunited. It is at the centre of the egg, sometimes yellow in colour, sometimes between yellowish and pale yellow, perfectly round, of varying size according to the different size of the birds. In fact Aristotle writes that marsh birds have more yellow, that the terrestrial ones have more albumen.» Still from Aristotle: «The yellow of the eggs and the albumen have an opposite nature, not only for the colour, but also for the power. In fact the yellow is thickened by the cold, the albumen is not thickened, but becomes more liquid. On the contrary  the albumen is thickened by the fire, the yellow is not thickened, but keeps soft, unless is burnt. And making it boiled it condenses and dries more than making it to roast.» And as in the universe the earth is placed at the centre and is surrounded by water and air, likewise the yolk, the more terrestrial part of the egg, is surrounded by two albumens, denser and slimmer. Besides, as Aristotle testifies: «If someone will mix some yolks and many albumens drawn out and placed in a frying pan and he will cook them on a rather weak and low fire, the whole yellow mass coagulates in a round central structure, while the white one arranges itself around.» Actually a lot of physicians believe that the albumen is the coldest part of the egg. But about this subsequently quite a lot of things will be reported.

Chalazae i. e. grandines (Italis galladura, Anglis the tredle) binae singulis ovis obtigerunt; altera in obtuso, altera in [227] acuto angulo. Plus earum in albumine reperitur; vitello tamen validius adhaerent, eiusque membranae appenduntur. Corpora sunt longiuscula, concreta magis quam albumen, et albidiora, nodosa, luciditatis cuiusdam non expertia, ut grando, unde illis nomen: constat enim quaelibet chalaza pluribus quasi grandinibus albumine ad invicem iunctis. Earum altera maior est, et longius a vitello versus obtusum ovi cacumen protenditur: altera minor, a vitello inferius versus partem ovi acutam porrigitur[5]. Maior ex duobus vel tribus nodis, quasi grandinis granis globulisve conflatur, qui modico intervallo a se invicem distant; et minor ordine maiori succedit.

The chalazae, that is the hails (for Italians galladura, for English people the tredle - today the tread, the jump, the joining of the cock or the treadle, the pedal) have been in fate two for each egg, one in the obtuse side, the other in the acute one. The most part of them is found in the albumen; however they stick more tenaciously to the yolk and glue to its membrane. Their structure is rather long, denser than the albumen, and they are more white, knotty, not devoid of a certain brightness like the hail, whence their name. In fact each chalaza is constituted by numerous grains as of hail, joined to each other by the albumen. One of them is bigger and stretches for a rather long tract from the yolk toward the obtuse side of the egg - exact: toward the acute side. The other one is smaller and from the yolk stretches down toward the acute side of the egg - exact: toward the obtuse side. The greater is composed by two or three knots similar to grains of hail or hailstones with a small interval between them, and the smaller advances with a greater line.

In omnibus omnium avium ovis reperiuntur; foecundis pariter, et subventaneis: idque in utroque eorum cacumine. Unde apparet vulgaris muliercularum error, existimantium grandines esse galli sperma, atque ab ipsis pullum procreari. Atque ipsemet Fabricius[6], licet neget eas ex galli semine constare; multis tamen rationibus contendit, eas immediatam esse materiam, quam gallus faecunditate imbuat, et ex qua pullus corporetur: Idque hoc levi argumento[7], quod in cocto ovo, chalazae in se ipsas ita contrahantur, ut conceptus, sive pulli iam efformati ac geniti similitudinem referant. Verisimile tamen non est, plura futuri foetus rudimenta in eodem ovo requiri: nec unquam quisquam, nisi in obtuso angulo, pulli primordium reperiit. Quinetiam dictae chalazae in ovis per coitum foecundis, nulla sensibili differentia ab iis discrepant, quae in ovis irritis inveniuntur. Hallucinatus itaque est vir clarissimus circa grandinis usum in ovo; idque postea ex dicendis clarius constabit.

They are found in all the eggs of all birds, both in those fertile and windy, and in both their apexes. Then it results to be a vulgar error of the silly women, who think that the hails are the sperm of the cock and that the chick is generated by them. And Fabrizi himself, even if denying that «they are constituted by the semen of the cock», nevertheless with a lot of considerations he affirms that «they are the immediate matter that the rooster soaks of fertility and from which the body of the chick is formed», and he affirms this with a weak motivation, «since in a cooked egg the chalazae contract into themselves to such a point to seem an embryo, that is, an already formed and generated chick». However it is not likely that in the same egg numerous sketches of the future fetus are found, and never somebody has found the sketch of the chick out of the obtuse angle. Besides, the so-called chalazae, in eggs that are fertilized through the coition are not significatively different from those found in the sterile eggs. Insofar that illustrious man made a mistake about the function of the hail in the egg, and afterwards this will result more evident from the things I have to say.

Etiam in minimarum avicularum ovis, tenue filum, aut nervulus, chalazae vestigium exhibet. In ovorum struthionis, et Cassoware utroque cacumine, vidi chalazas crassissimas, longissimas, [228] et albissimas, ex pluribus globulis magnitudine invicem cedentibus conflatas.

Also in the eggs of very small birds a thin thread, or filament, shows the trace of the chalaza. In both the apexes of ostrich and cassowary* eggs I have seen some very big chalazae, very long and very white, composed by numerous globules, the ones reducing in greatness in comparison with the others.

Cavitas quaedam exigua in obtusiore ovi parte, intus prope putamen, conspicitur; quae interdum in ipso fastigio sita est; interdum nonnihil ad latus inclinat, subiectae chalazae fere e directo respondens. Figura, ut plurimum, circulari est; in anate autem et ansere exacte circulum non refert. Hanc evidenter tanquam maculam obscuram cernere licet, si posito ex adverso lumine, impositaque transversim manu, in obscuro intuitus fueris. In ovo recentissimo exigua est, oculi humani pupillae magnitudinem referens[8]. Quotidie increscit, prout ovum requietum magis fuerit, et ambiens aer calidior. A prima statim incubationis die valde ampliatur: tanquam, parte aliqua exterioris et liquidioris albuminis exhalante, reliqua contraheretur, et spatium amplius relinqueret: fit enim cavitas isthaec inter testam, membrana succingente ibi loci destitutam, et membranam exteriorem universos ovi liquores amplectentem[9]. Omnibus ovis inest: imo vero in utero adhuc remanente ovo, quamprimum cortice obtegitur, inveni; aiunt harum rerum curiosi, si cavitas haec in summo fastigio fuerit, ex eiusmodi ovo nasciturum marem; foeminam autem, si versus latus deflexerit. Hoc sane compertum est; cavitatem minimam significare ovum iam recens editum; contra vero, requietum esse, si grandiuscula fuerit. Erit autem uberior postea de hac re dicendi locus.

In the obtuse part of the egg, internally and in proximity of the shell, a small cavity is visible, sometimes located at the summit, sometimes turned a little bit sideways, almost directly in front of the underlying chalaza. It is mostly of circular shape, but in duck and goose it is not exactly circular. It is possible to see it distinctly as a dark patch if you will look in a dark place after having put a facing lamp and having put transversally a hand. In a just laid egg it is small, similar in size to the pupil of a human eye. Every day it increases according to whether the egg mainly rested and the ambient air has been rather warm. Immediately starting from the first day of incubation it increases a lot, as if, evaporating a part of the more external and more liquid albumen, the other part shrinks and leaves the space more great. In fact this cavity is formed among the shell, which here is without winding membrane, and the external membrane winding all the liquids of the egg. It is present in all eggs. Or rather, to say the truth, I found it when the egg was still in the uterus as soon as it is covered by the shell. Of these things, the curious ones say that if this cavity was located in the summit, from such a egg a male would have been born, on the contrary a female if it was turned toward a side. But what follows has been really ascertained: a very small cavity means that it is a just laid egg, while it is old if the cavity will be rather great. Subsequently the moment will come to speak more extensively about this matter.

Circulus albus et perexiguus vitelli tunicae (tanquam cicatricula quaedam inusta) adnascitur: quam ideo Fabricius cicatriculam nominavit; sed parvi fecit, et potius ovi affectionem, quam partem eius aliquam existimavit. Macula haec perpusilla est, lenticulae fere magnitudine, aviculae pupillam referens, alba, plana, et circularis. Omnibus quoque ovis inest; etiam a prima eorum origine in vitellario. Quare fallitur Fabricius; [229] dum putat, hanc maculam esse duntaxat abrupti pedunculi vestigium; quo, in ovario, ipsi racemo appendebatur. Pedunculus enim, ut ipse agnoscit, cavus est, et vitello appropinquans dilatatur, ut ipsum totum ambiat, et tanquam in sacculo contineat; non autem illi (ut pedioli pomorum, aliorumque fructuum) infigitur, ut ita abruptus vestigium sui relinquat. Quod si aliquando in magno vitello, ut Fabricius refert, duplicem maculam conspexeris: causa monstri forsitan fuerit, et duplicati foetus, ut postea dicetur, non autem duplicis pedunculi indicium. Plurimum vero hallucinatur, dum cicatriculam hanc nulli usui inservire credit: est enim praecipua totius ovi pars, cuius gratia reliquae omnes efformantur, et ex qua pullus originem suam ducit. Parisanus quidem perperam hanc esse galli semen contendit.

On the tunic of the yolk a white and very small ring sprouts (as a small scar marked with the fire), therefore called cicatricle by Fabrizi, but he held it of little account and thought to be more a condition of the egg than its some component. This spot is very small, almost great as a lentil*, similar to the pupil of a birdie, white, flat and circular. It is also present in all the eggs, also starting from their initial origin in the ovary. Therefore Fabrizi is wrong when thinking that this spot is only the residue of the broken peduncle, through which in the ovary was suspended to the cluster. In fact the peduncle, as he himself admits, is hollow, and approaching itself to the yolk dilates with the purpose to wholly wind it and to contain it as in a pouch. In fact it not digs into the yolk (as the petiole of apples and other fruits), so that, after having been so broken, leaves a trace of itself. Since, if sometimes in a big yolk, as Fabrizi reports, you will see a double spot, perhaps it will be the cause of a monstrosity and of a duplicated fetus, as afterwards it will be said, but not the sign of a double peduncle. To say the truth he is quite a lot hallucinated when believes that this cicatricle doesn't serve to anything: in fact it is the principal part of the whole egg, thanks to which all the other things are formed and from which the chick draws its origin. Emilio Parisano* erroneously affirms that it is the semen of the cock.