File:The bird, its form and function (1906) (14732722236).jpg

Identifier: birditsformfunct07beeb (find matches)
Title: The bird, its form and function
Year: 1906 (1900s)
Authors: Beebe, William, 1877-1962
Subjects: Birds Birds
Publisher: New York : Henry Holt
Contributing Library: Internet Archive
Digitizing Sponsor: Internet Archive

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ogs eggs—those queer, gelatinous masses filled with black dots.Place them in a flat, white basin, and into a smaller saucernear by break a fresh hens egg, being careful not to injurethe yolk. Separate one of the frogs eggs with a spoonand put it beside that of the fowl. Now examine themcarefully with a good dissecting-microscope or even witha hand-lens. We see a large, round, yellow yolk in the case of oneegg, and a tiny speck of black and white in the other,—both apparently inanimate bits of matter, but which, merely by the application of heat in the one instance 462 The Bird in the Egg 4^3 and the presence of water in the other, will slowly takeon the semblance of living creatures; the one eventuallyto swim forth, live the life of a fish for a time, then toleap upon the land and croak among the reeds. Theother yolk would have evolved into a downy, yellow chick.We cannot hope to solve the mystery of life, but thereis a fascination in seeing how near its beginnings we canapproach.
Text Appearing After Image:
Fig. 364.—Egg of Hen, opened to show a 3-day embryo in position on the yolk.(Slightly enlarged.) If we have ever watched under the microscope the strangelittle creatures which live in the mud at the bottom ofponds, we will have realized the wonderful possibilities of asingle drop of living matter,—a single cell,—from theamoeba with its ever-changing shape to the swiftly movingslipper paramecium and the beautiful animal vases,—the 464 The Bird vorticella, on their queer little corkscrew stems. All theseare made up of but a single cell, and in the beginning allseeds of plants and all eggs of animals likewise consist ofone cell. If we examine a chicken while it is being dressed for thetable, we can easily find the ovary, a mass of hundredsof tiny golden spheres,—eggs which would have beenlaid during the coming years. So we realize that the mostessential part, in fact the real egg, is only the yolk; allelse being merely protective. The shell protects the yolkwhile the chick is d

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