Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VI.djvu/458

 450 EGERIA EGG in 1869, 13,463. It has cotton and woollen manufactories, and in its vicinity at Franzens- bad are chalybeate springs and baths. Its fortifications, formerly strong, were demolish- ed in 1808. It has a city hall, in which Wal- lenstein was assassinated, Feb. 25, 1634, the ruins of a castle in which the friends of Wal- lenstein were murdered, a gymnasium, mili- tary school, chamber of commerce, two con- vents, and four churches. Eger was formerly the capital of a county of that name, and be- longed to the margrave of Vohburg, and pass- ed over by marriage to the emperor Frederick I. In 1270 the city was burned down, and in 1285 the emperor Kudolph gave it as a marriage portion to King Wenceslas of Bohemia. In 1350 a great massacre of the Jews took place here. It was taken and retaken by both Swedes and imperialists during the thirty years' war. In the Silesian wars it was taken by the French under Marshal Saxe in 1742, and again under the marshal de Belleisle in 1745. (For Eger in Hungary, see ERLAU.) EGCRIA, one of the Camenae or nymphs of Ro- man mythology, who was believed to have dic- tated to Numa Pompilius his wise laws, and to have instructed him respecting the forms of worship which he introduced. It was said that she became his wife, and that being in- consolable after his death, she was changed into a fountain. She had been worshipped as a rural and prophetic divinity from the earliest periods of Latium, and was invoked as the giver of life by pregnant women. Numa con- secrated to her a grove in the environs of Rome, and to strangers visiting that city even now the grotto and fountain of Egeria are pointed out in the beautiful valley of Caf- farella. On ancient sculptures this nymph is represented in a costume similar to that of the muses, with floating robe, naked feet, di- shevelled hair, and in the attitude of writing in a volume which she holds upon her knees. EGERTON, Francis. See BBIDGEWATER. EGERTON, Thomas, baron of Ellesmere and Viscount Brackley, lord chancellor of England, born at Dobbleston, Cheshire, in 1540, died in London, March 15, 1617. He was educated at Brasenose college, Oxford, was called to the bar, and by his learning and integrity soon at- tracted the attention of Queen Elizabeth. He was appointed successively solicitor general, attorney general, master of the rolls, and in 1596 lord keeper. James L, on his accession, created him Baron Ellesmere, and appointed him lord high chancellor. He was subsequent- ly elected chancellor of the university of Ox- ford. In 1616 he was made Viscount Brack- ley. A few days before his death he resigned the great seal, having retained it, as lord keeper and chancellor, for a longer period un- interruptedly than any of his predecessors or successors. He was succeeded by Sir Francis Bacon. Besides his judicial duties, he was frequently employed by Elizabeth and James an the negotiation of treaties, and in other im- portant state affairs. His son John was the first earl of Bridge water (1617), and lord pres- ident of Wales. EGG, the organized germinal body from which all animals originate, formed within the mother, and developed into the living being either be- fore or after extrusion. In this article only those of the latter kind, chiefly of birds, will be considered ; the general subject will be treated under EMBRYOLOGY. The eggs of many of the lower orders of animals are col- lected and held together in great numbers by a viscous membrane, and are called spawn. Those of birds and of many reptiles, as the tor- toises and turtles, are deposited singly. Birds' eggs are contained in a calcareous shell, white or colored, formed almost wholly of carbonate of lime; the other constituents are minute quantities of animal matter, phosphate of lime T carbonate of magnesia, oxide of iron, and sul- phur. Lining this hollow shell is a thin and tough membrane, composed principally of al- bumen. At the larger end of the egg is a space between the outer shell and this mem- brane, which, very small when the egg is first laid, increases with its age ; it is called the vesicula aeris, and is filled with air, in which the proportion of oxygen is larger than in the atmosphere; this is said to be for the respi- ration of the unhatched chick. Within the membrane is the white of the egg, or the al- bumen, a viscid liquid, in membranous cells, which encloses the yolk and the real germ of the animal. As this germ leaves the place of its production and passes into the egg-discharg- ing canal, the albumen gathers around it in successive layers, a portion in very delicate membranes, called the chalazce, which are at- tached to the poles of the yolk, and serve to suspend it in such a manner that the smaller and lighter half must always be uppermost. The outer layer of the albumen is less thick and viscid than that next the yolk ; around it the lining membrane and calcareous shell are successively added before the egg is laid. In the hen's egg, the composition of the albumen is : water 85 parts, pure albumen 12, mucus 2*7, and saline matter 0'3, including soda with traces of sulphur ; or, according to Dr. Thom- son, water 80, albumen 15-5, mucus 4'5, ash 0*475. The yolk, called mtellus, is also a glairy fluid, commonly yellow, enclosed in its own membrane, and consists of a great variety of constituents, viz.: water, 41 '486; a form of albumen called vitelline, 15'76 ; margarine and oleine, 21-304; cholesterine, 0-438; oleic and margaric acids, 7*226 ; phosphoglyceric acid, 1'2 ; muriate of ammonia, 0-034; chlo- rides of sodium and potassium and sulphate of potassa, 0-277 ; phosphates of lime and magne- sia, 1-022; animal extracts, 0'4; and 0-553 of coloring matter, traces of iron, lactic acid, &c. Upon one side of the yolk is a round spot, yel- lowish white, called the cicatricula, the germ of the ovum, which by the arrangement of the chalazsB already referred to is always kept