Hatching Chickens from Shelled Eggs.

Kaipara and Waitemata Echo, 11 December 1914, Page 3

Hatching Chickens from Shelled Eggs.

Dr. Stewart Paton, a biologist, | has found out how to tal<e a hen's egg out of the shell and make it de-iiop artificially. Kor this purpose he uses a sterilised solution of water containing seven per cent, of common salt, to which a little calcium chloride and potassium chloride are added. With this he fills a glass dish. Then he takes an egg, wipes if off with a sterilised rag saturated with pure alcohol (so as to make it germ-free), and, with the aid* of a forceps ( (liicewi.se sterilised), opens the egg ! in such a way that the cut edge' shall be smooth. Then the contents of the egg are allowed to slide gently into the! dish, whereupon it quickly rights j itself, so that the embryo l» the fu- : ture chick is on top. The egg thus' treated is taken from an ordinary ; incubator after undergoing about twenty-six hours of incubation. ; When this process is carefully performed it is t accomplished without injury to tin? embryo or the surrounding egg material. Cut it is important that the solution shall lie of the same temperature as the egg. ftven if there be a slight difference in temperature, it is fatal to the success of the experiment. The dish containing- the fluid and the egg- is thereupon covered with a glass lid, which rests upon a cotton collar—the letter being held in place by a slrinir. The cotton allows free access of air, while shutting out g.-rms. Thus the experimenter lias in his glass dish an emb:\o chicken which is alive, supplied with the food it wants by the e,:g material. protected against germs, kept at exactly the normal temperature, and i provided with the oxygon at requires, The dish is put into the incubator, and while the embryo continues to develop, it can be watched through the cover of the dish. In a word, the chicken can be seen starting to grow. The first movements 'of its heart are observable, as well as many other interesting phenomena. Quite possibly by and by Dr. , Taton may be able to raise a chick 'by this method tea point where it will be ready to step up on the edge of the dish, walk out, and pick up its own food. But he has not got that far yet. This discovery is likely to be of great value in increasing the supply of chickens for commercial purposes and reducing the cost of living. At present hens are very unreliable at i the work of hatching out chickens I from their eggs, aivl even when in- | cuhators are use:: the number of j eggs lost is very large.----j If there were some meihod by which we could lie sure of having a chicken from every fertilised egg the present supply of chickens would be doubled. The country consumes millions of chickens and the cost of them ranges from three shillings upwards. A tremendous gain in j food supplies will be effected when i the new process is perfected.