De Ovorum utilitatibus. Cap. 3.

Part II
Chapter III
The utilities of the eggs

Cur alia Ova heterogenea, et organica sint: alia homogenea, similaria.

Why some eggs are heterogeneous and organized, others homogeneous, undifferentiated.

Ovi utilitates persecuturo mihi, ante omnia inquirendum cur ex multis partibus ovum componatur: inde vero num id omni competat ovo. Quod si ovo improprie dicto hoc non competit, rursus tertio huius varietatis utilitas quaerenda est: Videlicet cur alia ova organa sint, utputa ex pluribus composita; alia corpus tantum similare, quod ex toto eo animal, hoc est vermis nascatur; non autem ex parte eius gignatur, ex parte vero nutriatur, ut priora. Ad primum quod attinet Gal. passim quodque organum ex multis partibus constare prodidit. Quinimmo de ratione organi esse voluit, ut ex pluribus componatur particulis, quae ad unam actionem omnes conspirent, diversa tamen ratione, et utilitate.

Since I will describe the utilities of the egg, first of all I have to wonder why the egg is composed by a lot of parts, afterwards, if truly this concerns all the eggs. But, if this doesn't concern the egg improperly said, in third place we have to newly investigate the utility of this variety, that is, why some eggs are organs, that is, composed by a lot of parts, while others have only the aspect of a body, since from its totality an animal is born, that is a worm, and it is not generated by one its part, but is fed by a part, as the first ones - the properly called eggs. As far as the first point is concerned, Galen* in different passages said that each organ is formed by different parts. Nay, he wanted that is belonging to the essence of an organ the fact that it is composed by quite a lot of particles all cooperating for only one activity, nevertheless for different reasons and utilities.

Nam aliae praecipuum instrumentum actionis sunt: aliae ponuntur, tanquam sine quibus actio fieri non potest: aliae ut melius actio fiat: aliae denique ad horum omnium tutelam, et conservationem creatae sunt. Ovum igitur, cum organum sit, (non enim quaelibet pars ovi est ovum) ut ex pluribus constet partibus hasce conditiones subeuntibus necesse est: quas sane conditiones, earumque utilitates exactius explicans Arist.[1] ex ovi definitione eas proposuit, dum dicit: ovum est, ex cuius parte animal gignitur, reliquum cibus ei, quod gignitur est.

In fact some parts are the principal instrument of an action, others are set as if without them an activity cannot occur, others so that an activity occurs better, others finally have been created for safeguard and maintenance of all of them. Insofar the egg, being an organ (in fact a whatever part of the egg is not the egg), must be constituted by quite a lot of parts undergoing these conditions, and Aristotle explaining these conditions and their utility in a more exact manner, showed them according to the definition of the egg, when he says: the egg is that from a part of which the animal is generated, the rest is food for whom is generated.

Ex quibus verbis datur intelligi, in omni ovo unam adesse partem, quae est causa praecipua ovi actionis; aliae vero positae sunt, vel tanquam sine quibus ovi actio fieri non posset; aliae ut melius ovi actio fiat: aliae denique ad ovi, et actionis eius tutelam, et conservationem comparatae sunt. Igitur primum inquirenda ovi actio est, utputa ad quam omnes utilitates referuntur: scimus enim ex Galeno passim, non licere de utilitatibus quicquam proponere, ac contemplari, nisi actio organi prius cognita sit.

From these words it is possible to understand that in every egg a part is present that is the principal cause of the activity of the egg. Indeed the other parts are positioned as if without them the activity of the egg could not be possible, others so that the activity of the egg occurs better, others finally have been made for the safeguard of the egg, both of its activity and for its maintenance. Insofar in first place the activity of the egg has to be investigated, that is, to what activities all the utilities are referring. In fact we know from numerous passages of Galen that it is not allowed to expose and to consider something about the utilities if before the activity of the organ has not been known.

Ovi actiones, uti supra statutum a nobis fuit, ex Arist. et Galeno duae sunt: prima est pulli generatio; secunda augmentum, et nutritio. Quaeritur igitur quaenam pars in ovo sit prima causa, seu praecipuum instrumentum actionis ovi? Dubio procul, si de prima actione [48] loquamur, quae est pulli generatio, praecipua causa vel est semen, vel chalaza: quia hae duae sunt praecipua pulli generationis causa. Sed utrum semen, an chalaza?

The activities of the egg, as previously I established according to Aristotle* and Galen, are two: the first is the generation of the chick, the second is the growth and the nutrition. Insofar we wonder: what part in the egg is the first cause or the principal instrument of the activity of the egg? Without doubt, if we speak of the first activity, that is the generation of the chick, the principal cause is the semen or the chalaza, since these two things are the principal cause of the generation of the chick. But the semen or the chalaza?

Potius semen dicendum est: Nam causa haec praecipua nulla alia est, quam efficiens. Sic {ventriculis} <ventriculus> causa efficiens chyloseos est: sic iecur haematoseos sic cor pulsus, et caloris origo; et efficiens causa constituitur: sic cerebrum sensus, et motus: itidemque de caeteris dicendum; chalaza autem tantummodo materia est; sed satius est dicere, utrunque simul esse praecipuum actionis instrumentum. Ratio est, quia efficiens causa sine materia generare nil quicquam valet. Dicebat enim Arist.[2] oportere in generatione esse, et quod generet, et ex quo generet; instrumentum autem {utruuque} <utrunque> includit, et agens, et materiam.

It is preferable to say the semen. In fact this principal cause is nothing than the efficient cause. So the stomach is the efficient cause of the chyle* - today chyme*, so the liver is that of the blood, so the heart is the origin of the pulsation and of the heat and it is established to be its efficient cause, so the brain is that of the sensibility and of the movement, and we have to say the same thing about the other structures. On the other hand the chalaza is only matter, but it is better to say that both are at the same time the principal instrument of the activity. The reason lies in the fact that the efficient cause without the matter is not able to produce anything. In fact Aristotle was saying that in the generation must be both what generates and that from which it generates, in fact the instrument includes both the things, both what acts and the matter.

Propterea fit pulli generatio ex semine galli tanquam foecundante, et ex chalaza tanquam pullum corporante. Chalaza igitur a Galli semine foecundata praecipua causa est pulli generationis, quae prima est ovi actio. At non haec sola est ovi actio, sed ex Arist, et Galeno est quoque: pulli augmentum, cui associatur nutritio; cuius pars principalis, et praecipua causa est alimentum; id quoque non aliud est, quam vitellus, et albumen, quae primae causae sunt, ut fiat augmentum, et nutritio.

Insofar the generation of the chick happens starting from the semen of the rooster as fertilizer and from the chalaza as the one giving body to the chick. Therefore the chalaza fertilized by the semen of the rooster is the principal cause of the generation of the chick, that is, the first activity of the egg. However this is not the only activity of the egg, but according to Aristotle and Galen it is also the growth of the chick to which is joining the nutrition, whose principal part and prominent cause is the food, and this is nothing but the yolk and the albumen, which are the primary causes so that the growth and the nutrition happen.

Venae vero, et arteriae alimentum deferentes erunt tanquam sine quibus actio, hoc est augmentum, et nutritio fieri non posset; at vitelli, et albuminis quantitas constituta sunt, ut melius ovi actio, hoc est augmentum, et nutritio fiat, et ad pulli absolutionem et iustum incrementum sufficiat: sine enim hac utriusque debita copia, deterius omnino pulli incrementum succederet. Ultimo ovi cortex, et membranae ad totius ovi, simulque actionis tutelam positae sunt. Iam igitur patet, cur ovum ex multis conflatum est partibus, et quomodo omnes ad totius ovi actionem conspirent; quoque modo singulae singulas generales expleant utilitates.

But the veins and the arteries transporting the food will be, so to say, the things without which the activity, that is the growth and the nutrition, could not be possible, but the quantity of the yolk and the albumen has been determined in such way that the activity of the egg, that is, the growth and the nutrition, happens in a better way and is enough for the improvement and the right increase of the chick. In fact, without an appropriate quantity of both, the growth of the chick would succeed wholly worse. Finally, the shell of the egg and the membranes have been put for protecting the whole egg and contemporarily the activity. Therefore now it is clear why the egg is composed by a lot of parts and how all are contributing to the activity of the whole egg, and how every part performs a single useful action for the whole.

Nunc secundum problema discutiendum est: Videlicet num haec eadem ovo improprie dicto competant .s. esse organum, et habere plures partes, quarum singulae suos praebeant usus, tum actioni, tum praecipuae parti actionis causae. Cum ovum improprie dictum aut vermiculus sit ex Arist.[3], aut ex eo vermiculus nascatur; vermiculus autem imperfectum animal sit ex eodem, et cum ex toto ovo ipse nascatur, et alimentum propterea in ovo ei deficiat; sequitur, huiusmodi ovum uniforme corpus esse, et fluidum, ut dicit Arist., et omnino similare, nequaquam organum: et eiusmodi animalia alimento in ovo non indigere, propterea quod exterius nutriantur, et eam ob causam iis perpetuo generationis locum congruo [cui] cum alimento affluere natura voluit.

Now we have to discuss a second problem, that is, if these same things are pertinent to the improperly said egg, that is, that it is an organ and possesses numerous parts, everyone of them offering its own use, both for the activity and to the principal part that is the cause of the activity. According to Aristotele, since an improperly called egg either is a little worm or a little worm is born from it, on the other hand the little worm is an imperfect animal that is born from the defective egg itself, and since it is born from the whole egg, and therefore it is lacking in food into the egg, it follows that such egg is a uniform and fluid body, as Aristotle says, and wholly similar, never an organism. And such animals don't need food in the egg since they are feeding outside, and because of this reason the nature wanted that the place of the generation is always rich of a proper food.

Itaque muscas ova producere in carne putrida, videmus et erucas in brassica, et cantharidas in setis caninis[4]; denique singulis vermium generibus accommodatum sibi tum locum, tum alimentum iugiter suppeditari. Ex toto autem ovo, non ex parte eius gignitur animal, quia vermis, qui gignitur, imperfectum animal est, et ut tale facile, ac cito gignitur, et consummatur. Ultimo si quaeras, cur natura vermes ex ovo tam facile, tamquam festine, ac velociter tum oriri, tum augeri, perficique voluerit: alia vero ex propriis ovis noluerit? Respondendum, imperfecta longe facilius perfectis, perfici, et consummari. Neque enim in vermibus tot partes, tantamque organorum compagem, quae multo labore, [49] multoque tempore opus habet, requiri existimandum est.

Insofar we see that the flies lay the eggs in putrid flesh, the caterpillars in cabbage, the cantharides* in hair of dogs, and finally that to every kind of worms both a place and a proper food is always supplied. Afterwards the animal is produced from the whole egg, not from part of it, since the generated worm is an imperfect animal, and, as such, it is easily and quickly produced and completed. Finally, if you ask why nature makes the worms both to be born and easily as well as rapidly and quickly grow from the egg, and why it wanted that they come to perfection, why did nature not want that to the other animals the same thing happened from their eggs? We have to answer that the imperfect animals are very more easily improved and completed in comparison with the perfect ones. In fact we don't have to think that in the worms are required so many parts and so many structures of organs needing a lot of effort and quite a lot of time.

Quod si ultimo quaeras cur in vermium generatione, successioneque natura ut plurimum non [foetu] fuerit unica mutatione contenta, sed modo trinam, modo duplicem formarum successionem affectaverit, et adhibuerit? Respondetur vermen ex ovo genitum oportere rursus ova parere, ut propagatio sequatur, speciesque conservetur. Ova autem foecunda per maris, et foeminae cuncursum fiunt, alioqui infoecunda sunt, ut patet.

But, if as last thing you ask: why in the generation of the worms and in its succession, for the more nature has not been satisfied with only a mutation, but searched and used a succession of the forms sometimes triplex, sometimes double? The reply is that the worm generated from the egg has again to give birth to eggs so that the reproduction follows and the species is preserved. On the other hand the eggs become fertile for the contribution of male and female, otherwise they are infertile, as it is evident.

Itaque merito vermes, qui propter eorum imperfectam naturam sexu non distinguuntur, uti elicitur ex Arist.[5] iam mutari in aliam speciem debent, quae utrunque sortiatur sexum. Quod ut fiat[6], primum vermiculi ex ovis oriuntur; qui subinde aucti, erucae formam induunt: ubi autem iustam magnitudinem receperunt, in folliculo includuntur, ibi aureliae, evadunt; ultimo papiliones. Quia vero sexu non distinguuntur, et vermis speciem quodammodo non mutant, utcunque erucae, et aureliae evaserint, nisi ubi in papiliones migrarint, mutatique sint; in papiliones autem commutati, iam volatilium naturam sapiunt, volatilibusque annumerantur; ideo tunc sexu distinguuntur, et coeunt, tum demum ova pariunt, ut rursus eiusdem generis vermes fiant, et generationis successio consequatur, speciesque conservetur.

Insofar rightly the worms which, because of their imperfect nature are not distinguished according to the sex, as it is inferred from Aristotle, by now they have to change into another appearance, which must to possess both sexes. So that this happens: at first from the eggs little worms are born which, after having increased, assume the aspect of a caterpillar, and when acquired the correct size they withdraw in a sac and here become chrysalides and at last butterflies. But since they are not distinguished according to the sex, and don't change somehow the aspect of worm, they will become anyway caterpillars and chrysalides, unless became and changed into butterflies. On the other hand when they changed into butterflies by now are showing the nature of the volatiles and are numbered among the volatiles, and then they are distinguished according to the sex and they mate, then finally lay eggs so that again become worms of the same genus, a succession of the generation comes from them and the species is keeping.

Quod si haec utilitas omni ex parte non arridet, dicas, hanc formarum successionem fieri, quia Deus providentiam, et potestatem suam multarum rerum mirabili varietate voluit ostendere<,> ex his quoque patere potest, cur ex insectis alia gignuntur ex ovo, ut bona pars; alia ex animalibus eiusdem generis, ut phalangia, et aranei: et ex phalangiis et araneis, bruci, locustae, cicadae: Alia non ex animalibus, sed sponte, ut dicit Arist.[7], oriuntur, videlicet, ex rore, qui frondibus adhaeret, aut ex australi tempore, aut ex coeno, aut fimo putrescente, aut in lignis vel stirpium, vel caesis, aut in animalium pilis, aut in excrementis, vel excretis, vel intus in corpore contentis.

But if this utility is not successful under any viewpoint, you could say that this succession of aspects happens because God wanted to show his providence and his power with an extraordinary variety of many things, from which it can also result clear why some insects are born from an egg, as it happens for a better part, why others are born from animals of the same genus as the tarantulas and the spiders, and from tarantulas and spiders the caterpillars, the locusts, the crickets. Other beings, as Aristotle says, are not born from animals, but spontaneously, that is, from the dew sticking to the leafy branches, or from a mild climate, or from the mud, or from the putrefying manure, or in the woods both of the stumps and cut, or in the hair of the animals, or in the excrements both eliminated and contained in the body.

Cuius tam multiplicis generationis, numerosaeque sobolis ea est utilitas, ut scilicet haec admodum imperfecta animalia, quae tum brevissimo temporis spatio durant, videlicet trimestri, aut semestri, tum in alitum cibum cessura erant: (Nam potissimum avium nidificationis tempore insectorum fit proventus) numerosissima perpetuo sint, ne unquam deficiant, ne ve genus pereat. Quae etiam causa est, ut haec multiplicem sortiantur generationis occasionem: unam quidem spontaneam, et ex se, videlicet ex rore, qui frondibus insudat; aliam ex concubitu; videlicet ex ovis, quae fiunt ex primis vermibus folliculo inclusis, et in aliam speciem mutatis, videlicet in papiliones. sunt nonnulla, quae universalem iam propositum finem non assequuntur: ideoque ab his distinguuntur, quod haec novam, ac duplicem mutationis speciem non subeunt, sed pereunt in prima.

The utility of such a manifold generation and of a numerous offspring consists in the fact that these very imperfect animals, both lasting for a very short space of time, that is, one quarter or one semester, and being destined to become food of the birds (in fact above all during the period of the nest-building of the birds there is an abundance of insects), they are always very numerous, so that never they are missing or the genus is not extinguishing. This is also the reason why they are blessed with a manifold possibility to generate themselves, one spontaneous and autogenous, that is from the dew oozing on leafy branches, another from the mating, that is from the eggs formed from the first worms contained in the sac and which are changing assuming another aspect, that is, that one of butterflies. There are some of them not reaching the common purpose already told, and therefore they differentiate from these, since they don't undergo the new and double type of mutation, but they dies during the first one.

Ut sunt parva illa animalcula, vulgo Rospetti, in torrentium litore ex pulvisculo ab aestivo imbri madefacto exorta, et ab exortu se saltu protinus loco moventia, ut ranae, quas toto corpore aemulantur, quamvis colore potius rospos referant; quae uti cito propter causarum vehementiam oriuntur, ita cito etiam pereunt; et propter eorum subitam generationem non fieri, sed pluere a {nounullis} <nonnullis> creduntur.

Like they are those small little animals, commonly called rospetti - little toads, born on the shore of the streams from the dust wet by the summer rain and that from the moment of birth immediately move on the place with jumps as the frogs that they imitate with the whole body, even in colour they rather resemble toads. As they are rapidly born for the vehemence of the causes, as many quickly they die, and by some people they are believed to not be born because of a rapid their generation, but that they are raining.

Haec nullius communis usus gratia, sed ex necessitate causarum produci, quod cito oriantur, et pereant, neque in aliam speciem mutentur, indicio est. Sic etiam vinarii culices[8], qui vulgo musciolini [50] appellantur ex vinaciis oriundi primam speciem non praetereunt, sed vermiculus subito in volatile transit, quod forte usum alia pabulandi vix praebeat.

These are produced not with the purpose of a common use, but for necessity of the causes; it is sign of this the fact that they are born and die in a hurry and they don't turn themselves into another shape. So also the wine's mosquitoes, commonly called musciolini - little flies, arising from marc, don't go beyond the first shape, but the little worm immediately passes into a flyer, since perhaps hardly offers a use to feed other animals.

De totius Ovi utilitatibus.

The utilities of the whole egg

Ovi utilitates eius potissimum actionem respiciunt, ad eamque referuntur, hoc est in pulli generationem, et augmentum, uti supra dictum est; sed quae primum a toto ovo desumuntur, vel ovi sunt, quatenus in utero est, vel extra; si extra, vel ubi avi suppositum aut ubi non suppositum est: de omnibus agamus.

The utilities of the egg above all are concerning its activity and they refer to it, that is, for the generation and the growth of the chick, as it has been said before. But those utilities that in first place are derived from the whole egg, they belong to the egg until either it is in the uterus, or it is outside. If it is outside, we have to attend to all that it concerns, both when it is put under a bird or when it is not put under.

Ovum igitur foras emissum, et non suppositum, primo rotundum est, ut in minimo spatio tota pulli moles contineatur, propter quam causam Deus rotundum mundum fecit, ut omnia contineret, omnia complecteretur, atque ob eandem causam haec figura naturae semper extitit amicissima, et convenientissima, ut dicebat Gal. 10. de usu part.[9] Praeterea cum non habeat angulum externis iniuriis expositum, ideo tutissima est, et ad eiusdem exclusionem opportunissima.

Therefore, a laid egg and not put to be brooded, first of all is round so that the whole mass of the chick is contained in a very small space, that's why God made the world round, so that it contained all the things, embraced all the things, and for the same reason this shape always resulted extremely pleasant and proper to nature, as Galen told in De usu partium corporis humani chapter 10. Furthermore, not having an angle exposed to the external damages, it is therefore an extremely sure shape and very proper for its brooding.

Veruntamen omnium ferme avium non perfecte rotundum ovum est, sed oblongum: unde ovale, quod tali figura donatum est appellatur: oblongum autem ovum est, quia pullus magis longus, quam latus est: ita enim inflexis omnibus articolationibus apparet, ac remanet. Id vero esse oblongum plerisque usu venit ovis Gallinarum, anserum, pavonum, anatis, columbarum, serpentum, et nisi forte pauca excipiantur, ut piscium, et formicarum, quod rotunda prima facie appareant: sed et Gallinarum quoque ovorum principia a vitello inchoata rotunda sunt.

Nevertheless to say the truth the egg of almost all the birds is not perfectly round, but oblong: hence it is called oval - egg shaped - what is endowed with this shape. Actually the egg is lengthened because the chick is longer than broad: in fact such it appears and such remains with all the articulations flexed. But to be lengthened is occurring above all for the eggs of hens, geese, peacocks, duck, doves, snakes, and except perhaps to exclude few of them, as those of fishes and ants since at sight they appear round, but the initial constituents of the eggs of the hens which begin from the yolk are also round.

Rursus neque exacte ovale, et aequaliter oblongum, sed altera parte obtusius, latius, et crassius, altera acutius, tenuiusque est ovum: quoniam pullus ex superiore parte, ubi caput est et thorax, latior; ubi vero crura, [augustior] angustior, tenuiorque est, in qua re adhuc varietas conspicitur, quae in maioris, minorisque ratione consistit. Etenim nonnulla ova cum eo, quod oblonga sunt, paulo minus ex utroque latere sunt aequalia; alia ex altero extremo valde cacuminata. Unde Arist.[10] dicebat. Quae oblonga sunt ova, et fastigio cacuminata, foeminam edunt. Quae vero rotundiora, et parte sui acutiore obtusa, orbiculum, aut peripheriam habent, mares gignunt.

Moreover the egg is not perfectly oval and uniformly lengthened, but at one side is more obtuse, broader and thicker, at the other side it is more acute and thinner, since the chick is more broad in the superior part where the head and the thorax are located, while where the legs are it is more tight and thin, and in this regard a variation is still observed, which lies in the reason of being greater and smaller. In fact some eggs, besides the fact to be lengthened, are nearly the same at both extremities, others are very sharp at one extremity. Hence Aristotle said: those eggs lengthened and pointed produce a female. Instead those more round and obtuse at their more acute side, and showing a circular shape or a circumference, produce males.

Contrarium scribit Plinius[11] foeminam edunt quae rotundiora gignuntur; reliqua marem: credendum est, Plinium contrarium habuisse codicem: cui autem credendum, dubium est. Melius autem forte erit veritatem ab experientia venari ex relatu mulierum. Ego tamen crederem, hoc provenire ex partibus pulli[12] infernis, quae ad podicem, et uropygium spectant, aut latioribus, aut angustioribus: si enim foemina habet partes eas latiores, ut ego opinor, tunc ovum rotundum pariet foeminam: si angustiores marem<;> opinor autem, foeminam habere eas partes latiores, quia ad podicem praeter alia foramina mari communia, uterum habet, qui amplus est, et amplas eiusmodi partes requirit: cuius rei gratia etiam mulier hanc partem ad ossa ilium spectantem viro habet latiorem.

Pliny writes the contrary: those generated more round produce a female, the others a male. We have to believe that Pliny had available a code with an opposite content; nevertheless it is doubtful whom we have to believe. But perhaps it will be better to search for the truth from the experience, relying on what the women report. However I would be inclined to believe that this comes from the inferior parts of the chick, that are turned toward the cloaca and the uropygium, if they are wider or narrower. If in fact the female has those parts wider, as I think, then a round egg will give birth to a female, to a male if they are narrower. Actually I think that a female has those parts wider, since in proximity of the cloaca, besides other openings in common with the male, she has the uterus which is wide and requires that such parts are wide. For this reason also the woman shows this part, placed in proximity of the bones of the pelvis, wider in comparison with the male.

Igitur ova merito tum latiorem, tum angustiorem partem sortita sunt. Quae ut ita efformarentur, natura in ovi ortu declivem situm uni parti tradidit, quae latior futura erat, ut propter declivem situm materia copiosior deorsum [51] vergens, simul eam partem [dilatat] dilataret. Et propter hanc causam ovum in partem crassiorem exit: quamvis forte magis consonum, commodumque esset, in acutam partem prius exire, [tanquam] tamquam quae sensim sibi viam ad exitum pararet. Sed cum prospiceret natura, eandem retro subesse difficultatem, si contra fieret, propterea latiorem ovi partem prius exire permisit.

Insofar the eggs rightly received both a wider and a narrower part. So that they were structuring in this way, during the birth of the egg the nature assigned a declivous location to the part which will be wider, so that, because of the low position, the matter, flowing more abundant downward, contemporarily was dilating that part. And for this reason the egg goes out with the bigger part, even if perhaps it would be more convenient and opportune than it started to go out with the acute part, as the latter would slowly prepare the way to go out. But the nature, foreseeing that behind the same difficulty would appear if the coming out happened contrarily, then allowed that the first part to go out was the wider part of the egg.

Quod forte ea quoque ratione factum est, ut retro ad acutam ovi partem uterus facilius, et citius contraheretur, et ita contractus facilius quasi ad exitum deorsum ovum impelleret. Sed {utputo} <ut puto>, ovi obtusioris partis pondus sensim dilatando viam aperit, et sibi parat. Quod si contrarium situm obtineret, pondus, quod superius esset, deorsum revolveretur, atque ita perinde ovo contingeret, ac laminae plumbeae, medullae sambuci annexae vulgo Saltamartino[13]. Quod si interdum reperiatur contra id quod fere perpetuum est, non turbet.

And this perhaps happened also for such a reason, so that the uterus might contract more easily and more quickly behind near the acute part of the egg, and so contracted it was pushing the egg more easily below until almost to the exit. But, as I think, the weight of the obtuse part of the egg, by slowly dilating, opens and prepares the way. But, if it were turned contrarily, the weight, that would be aloft, would fall downward, and to the egg would happen the same thing that would happen to the lead sheet inserted in the pith of the elder commonly called saltamartino. But if sometimes it is found placed contrarily than it almost always happens, don't get upset.

Ovi magnitudo ea est, quae requiritur ratione magnitudinis pennati animalis, ut scilicet in ovo tantum augeri pullus possit, donec per os nutriri valeat. Ovorum numerus quarundam avium, ut puto, definitus est; earum nimirum, quae semel in anno generant: in iis enim credibile est tot vitellos in racemo conformari, quot sunt necessarii in una nidificatione. Sed unum notatum dignum oportet in his observare, videlicet haec pennata, quae pauca ova pariunt, ea sine mare non parere. Nunquam columbae (ut audio) ova sine mare pariunt, quamvis Arist.[14] dicat, subventanea ova plures aves parere, ut gallinas, perdices, columbas, pavones, anseres, et vulpanseres dictas, causam vos ipsi per otium excogitetis, et mihi communicetis. At gallinae ova sine mare pariunt.

The size of the egg is that required with regard to the size of the feathered animal, that is, so that the chick can increase in the egg until when is able to feed by mouth. The number of the eggs of some birds, as it seems to me, is established. Evidently they are those laying only once a year: in fact about them it is reliable that in the cluster so many yolks are formed as they are necessary for one nest-building. But in these birds it is opportune to observe a noteworthy thing, that is, these birds laying few eggs don't lay them without the male. The doves, as I hear, never lay eggs without the male, even if Aristotle says that many birds lay windy eggs as hens, partridges, doves, peacocks, geese and those called vulpansers* or shelducks. You calmly discover the reason and tell it to me. But the hens lay eggs without the male.

Igitur pleraque pennata ova in numero definito pariunt, cuius rei forte causa est, quod numerus imperfectionem in omnibus arguit: et in paucitate natura non fallit. Et hoc evenire iis consentaneum est, quarum partus, et ipsi etiammet parentes vel in cibum alterius non succedunt, vel destructioni non sunt obnoxiae. Nam si sint obnoxiae, ut Gallinae, in iis numerus ovorum generandorum definitus non est: ideoque in Gallinarum vitellario numerari fere vitelli non possunt. Neque enim omnia perficiuntur in vitellario: et quae perficiuntur, in cubatione postea neque omnia supponuntur, quod multa comeduntur.

Then the most part of the birds lays eggs in a definite number, whose reason perhaps lies in the fact that the number reveals the imperfection in all the things and nature doesn't make errors in case of a small number. And it is logical that this happens in those birds whose issue and also the parents themselves either don't serve as food for others or are not subject to destruction. In fact if they were subject as the hens are, in the latter the number of the eggs to be produced is not defined, and therefore in the ovary of the hens the yolks almost cannot be numbered. Neither in fact all the eggs are brought to end in the ovary and all those brought to end are not put to be brooded, since many of them are eaten.

Aristo.[15] tamen dividens primo Gallinas in generosas, et ignobiles; dixit, magnam esse generosarum Gallinarum foecunditatem, cum sexaginta edant ova ante incubitum: licet hae minus foecundae, quam ignobiles sint: Praeterea mulierculae nostrae dicunt, quamque Gallinam centum ova parere, ideoque ultimum appellatur vulgo centenino, et a rusticis disperso, hoc est abortivum ovum: et est illud, quod Gallina postremo loco facit exiguum, et quadruplo minus reliquis: quod est sine luteo: vicemque lutei videtur albumen supplere, quia in ipso quid rotundum consistit loco lutei quod deficit, quia non amplius suppetit in racemo: albuminis autem adhuc aliquid supersit.

Nevertheless Aristotle, firstly dividing the hens in those of good breed and of no good breed, said that the fertility of the hens of good breed is great, since they lay 60 eggs before brooding, although these are less fertile than those of no good breed. Besides our housewives say that each hen lays 100 eggs and that therefore the last egg is commonly called centenino - hundredth - and disperso by the farmers, that is, abortive egg, and it is that one very small the hen lays as last and which is four times smaller than the other eggs being without yellow, and it seems that the albumen is in place of the yellow since in it something round is present in place of the yellow that is missing, since it is not any more present in the cluster. But a little bit of albumen still remains.

Vidi quoque ovum istiusmodi, quod ex parte acuta appendiculam, seu collum habebat longius, et ovum imitabatur, oblongae cucurbitae collo simile[16]. praeterea non modo in numero, sed etiam in tempore differentia adnotatur: ideoque Arist.[17] loco citato, quae parvo sunt corpore, ut Adrianae quotidie, et ex cortalibus nonnulla bis die parere dixit. Multiparis quoque incubitu [52] depravari ova, et urina fieri dixit Arist.[18] urina autem ova sunt, cum vitellus in cubatione diffunditur, idque provenire ex nimio calore voluit Aristo.[19] eo modo, quo et vina calidis temporibus faece subversa corrumpuntur.

I have also seen such an egg, which, at the acute side, was showing a small appendix, that is, a rather long neck, and was imitating an egg similar to the neck of a lengthened pumpkin. Besides the difference is not observed only in the number, but also about the period - of the laying. Insofar Aristotle in the quoted passage said that the hens having a small body, as the Adrian hens*, lay every day and that some barnyard hens lay twice a day. Besides, Aristotle said that the eggs are spoiled by the brooding of those laying a lot of eggs and that they become sterile. They are sterile eggs when during the brooding the yolk spreads, and Aristotle affirmed that this comes from the excessive heat, like also the wines spoil during the warm season when the dregs are remixed.

Ideoque ova calido tempore depravantur, et multiparis quoque id accidit, propterea quod incubatu aequalis calor omnibus non communicetur, sed aliis deficiat, aliis superet, et quasi putrefaciendo obturbet, et eandem ob causam idem quoque uncunguibus evenire censuit Aristot.[20] quamvis pauca tum edant, tum incubent ova: cum enim natura eorum calida sit, faciunt, ut quasi ferveant supra modum, et diffundatur ovorum vitellus: itaque saepe alterum ex duobus urinum fit, sed tertium fere semper. Accidit autem, ut vitellus tantum subvertatur, et diffluat, nequaquam albumen, quod {sub versio} <subversio>, et diffusio a calido fit, vitellus autem calidus est, albumen frigidum. praeterea vitellus fluxilis, ac {tenuisest} <tenuis est>. Albumen tenax, et crassius, quamvis Aristo.[21] vitellum magis esse terrestrem, et perinde ut in vino, sic in ovo faeci respondere, dicat.

Insofar in the warm season the eggs spoil and this also happens to multiparous hens since with the brooding an equal heat is not supplied to all of them, but to some is missing, for others is overabundant, and it disarranges them almost making them to putrefy, and Aristotle affirmed that for the same reason the same thing happens in the birds with hooked toenails - the birds of prey, despite they lay and brood few eggs. In fact, their nature being warm, they do so that the eggs almost heat excessively and the yolk of the eggs spreads. Hence often one of two eggs becomes sterile, but the third one almost always. Actually it happens that only the yolk rots and is lost, the albumen not at all, since the rotting and the dispersion happen because of the heat, and the yolk is warm, the albumen is cold. Besides the yolk is flowing and few dense, the albumen is tenacious and denser, even if Aristotle says that the yolk is earthier and therefore, as in the wine, so in the egg it corresponds to the dregs.

De Ovi Corticis Utilitatibus.

The utilities of the shell of the egg

Sequitur nunc, ut utilitates partium ovi afferantur, ab externis sumpto principio, videlicet ab ovi cortice. Ovi cortex, seu putamen non omnibus inest ovis. Nam serpentum ova, et aliorum pleraque cortice destituuntur: quando haec sub terrae gleba relicta, et compressa frangerentur facile, si cortice frangibili donata essent; alia vero facile compressa, ruptaque essent a cubantis pondere, si rigidus cortex non obsisteret. Praeterea serpentes rostro destituuntur, quo rumpere durum corticem possint, sive serpentulis in ovo conclusis, sive etiam matri, si adesset, id munus esset concreditum, et commissum.

Now, to explain the utility of the parts of the egg, we continue starting from the external parts, that is, from the shell of the egg. The cortex of the egg, that is, the shell, is not present in all the eggs. In fact the eggs of the snakes and most of the eggs of other animals are without shell, since left and compressed under a clod of earth they would easily break if endowed with a breaking shell; but the others would be easily compressed and broken by the weight of the brooder if a rigid shell doesn't prevent this. Besides the snakes are without beak with which to be able to break a hard shell, and this task would be due and would be entrusted both to the little snakes enclosed in the egg and also to the mother if present.

Alia autem ova, ut piscium, formicarum, lacertarum, testudinum, et eius generis, ut exigua sunt, ita duriuscula eatenus sunt, quo tuta ab externis sint. Rursus cortex durus est, et densus, ut a rebus contundentibus, ac prementibus tutus esset, et ipse, et pullus. Dicebat enim Aristot.[22] Testa in ovis edendis tutela est contra detrimenta, quae deforis veniunt. Sed propter quam causam albus cortex est? non propter aliquam utilitatem, sed quatenus consequitur temperamentum frigidum, et siccum, quo durus fit, ac densus, ut similiter ossa alba sunt. Quod si alios cortices alio colore infectos videris, utputa vel pallidos, vel luteos, vel rubros, vel maculatos, et puncti distinctos; dicas, hanc varietatem varium sequi temperamentum, quod varios producit humores, qui in ovi cortice efflorescunt. Vidi enim aliquando Gallinam in totum nigram fusco quoque cortice ova parere.

Then, other eggs, as those of fishes, ants, lizards, tortoises and animals of this type, the more are small, the more are harder to such a point to result protected from external events. Besides the shell is hard and dense so to be insured against the bruising and compressing agents, both itself and the chick. In fact Aristotle was saying that the shell in the eggs that must be laid is a safeguard against the damages coming from outside. But for what reason the shell is white? Not for some utility, but because it is endowed with a cold and dry temperament, thence it becomes hard and dense, just as the white bones are. But if you are seeing other shells of another colour, for example yellowish, or yellow, or red, or mottled and speckled, you could say that this variety follows a different temperament which produces different humours blooming in the shell of the egg. In fact once I have seen a totally black hen that was  laying eggs also with dark shell.

Rursus frangibilis est cortex, ut tempore exitus pulli non difficulter rumpatur. Si enim ita non esset, exire pullus non posset; quam ob causam non ubique similiter durus, ac frangibilis est; sed eo loci maxime, ubi pulli rostrum adest, et respiratio peragitur: qui locus cavitate donatus est aerea, quae inibi corticem facit sicciorem, et magis frangibilem, de qua cavitate infra dicetur. Insuper laevigatus est cortex, ut asper, si esset, et difficulter exiret, ex utero et vias, per quas exit eroderet. Ultimo ovi cortex porosus est, ut patet ex sudore exeunte, cum recens supra cineres coquitur, [53] quo calor cubantis facilius interius penetret, et permeet, tum ad seminis facultates excitandas, tum vitelli, et albuminis substantiam alterandam, quo facile in sanguinem commutetur.

In turn the shell can be frangible so that, at the moment of the coming out of the chick, it breaks without difficulty. In fact if it not were so, the chick could not go out, that's why the shell is not everywhere equally hard and frangible, but above all there where the beak of the chick is located and the respiration takes place. This point is endowed with a cavity of air making the shell more dry and more easy to be broken, and we will speak later of this cavity. Besides the shell is smooth, since, if rough, it would go out with difficulty from the uterus and would scratch the ways through which it goes out. Finally, the shell of the egg is porous as it is evident from the damp coming out when, just laid, it is cooked on ashes, so that the heat of who is brooding enters and penetrates more easily inside, both to stimulate the powers of the semen, and to modify the substance of yolk and albumen so that easily they turn into blood.

Membranarum Ovi utilitates.

Utilities of the membranes of the egg

Ad membranas quod attinet; Quaeritur primo cuius rei gratia natura ovum membranis obvoluerit? Respondetur, ut qui in ovo mollissimi, et fluidi humores sunt, intus contineantur, et ab externis laedentibus arceantur. Dicebat enim Arist.[23] densas esse membranas, ut arcere possint. Sed in ovo densas quoque esse membranas dicendum est, ut fluidos humores detineant: quo modo in oculo quoque densa cornea facta est, ut humorem aqueum detineat, ne foras exudet. Si igitur densae sunt ovi membranae, ergo frigidae; densitas enim frigiditatis effectus est, quod si frigida membrana est, ergo alba: quia in corpore animalis omnia frigida, alba, et omnia rubra calida sunt. Patet igitur cur ovum membranis obvolvatur, curque densae sint, frigidae, et albae. Rursus membranae duae in ovo intus, inter corticem, et humores comperiuntur; quoniam una non erat satis ad coniungenda corpora inter se valde dissimilia, scilicet corticem, et humores: corticem (inquam) valde durum, et humores valde molles, ac propemodum dixerim fluidos.

As far as the membranes is concerned, first we wonder: why nature wounded the egg with membranes? We reply: so that the very soft and fluid liquids present in the egg are here contained inside and are held far from external injurious events. In fact Aristotle said that the membranes are thick so that they can protect. But we also have to say that the membranes in the egg are thick so to hold fluid the humours, like also in the eye the cornea became thick to hold aqueous the humor, so that it doesn't transpire outside. Therefore if the membranes of the egg are thick, then they are cold. In fact the thickness is an effect of the coldness, hence if a membrane is cold, it is white, since in the body of an animal all the cold things are white, and all those red are warm. Therefore it is clear why the egg is wound by membranes and why they are dense, cold and white. Besides within the egg two membranes are found, between the shell and the liquids, since only one was not sufficient to hold together some structures very different each other, that is, the shell and the liquids. I would say that the shell is very hard and the liquids are very soft, and more or less I would label them as fluids.

Unde Plato dicebat[24], sicuti inter ignem, et terram, corpora scilicet inter se valde dissimilia Deus posuit duo corpora, aerem, et aquam, ut haec simul coniungeret: et inter cranium durissimum, et cerebrum mollissimum posuit similiter duas membranas, duram scilicet ac tenuem: Sic inter corticem, et humores, aut si mavis dicere inter durum corticem, et mollem foetum (nam foetus gratia ovum factum est) posuit duas membranas, cum una non probe sufficeret durum corticem molli foetui coniungere, licet foetus adhuc propriis membranis obductus sit: quae etiam alium usum praebent, quam qui communiter membranarum est, videlicet, ut integumenta quaedam sint, de quibus mox dicam. Merito vero crassior, et durior corticem contingit, qui cum commode versatur; tenuior autem, et mollior molli foetui adhaeret, aut mollissimos humores obvolvit. Hae sunt communes totius ovi membranarum utilitates.

Thence Plato said that, as between the fire and the earth, that is, between bodies each other very dissimilar, God placed two bodies, air and water, to join them together, and likewise between the very hard skull and the very soft brain he put two membranes, that is, one hard and one thin, so between the shell and the humours, or, if you prefer to say, between the hard shell and the soft fetus (in fact the egg has been created thanks to the fetus) he placed two membranes since only one was indeed not enough to join the hard shell to the soft fetus, even if the fetus is already wound by its membranes, which offer also an employment different from that one common to the membranes, that is, so that they are as coverings, about which I soon will say. Rightly the thicker and harder one is in contact with the shell, which fits it well, while the thinner and softer one sticks to the soft fetus or winds the soft humours. These are the common utilities of the membranes of the whole egg.

Tertia ovi membrana vitelli propria est: ideoque vitellum privatim obvolvit, et constantem in seipsum conservat; quo fit, ut ea abrupta, vitellus extemplo profluat. Figuram itaque vitelli conservat. Aristot.[25] autem membranis distingui vitellum, et albumen censuit, quod naturam habeant diversam. Et ita se habent hae membranae in ovo non foeto, In foeto vero duae communes memoratae membranae similiter se habent. Vitello vero propria stragulum vasorum se se offert aptissimum, uti infra dicetur.

The third membrane of the egg belongs to the yolk and therefore it only winds the yolk and maintains it compact in itself, hence it happens that, if it is broken, the yolk immediately flows out. Therefore it maintains the shape of the yolk. On the other hand Aristotle stated that the yolk and the albumen are separated by membranes being endowed with a different nature. And these membranes are behaving in this way in a not fertilized egg, while in the fertilized one the two common membranes I mentioned remain the same. But that belonging to the yolk appears as a tissue extremely suitable for blood vessels, as it will be said later.

In fine hic quaeritur, cur in ovo non foeto peculiarem membranam albumini nequaquam, vitello autem traditam, et obductam videamus? Respondetur, in ovo omnino propriam membranam vitellum obtinuisse, ut constans in sua substantia, eo loci consisteret: aliter enim efflueret, et cum albumine confunderetur: id quod prohibet propria vitelli membrana. Albumen autem propria non indiguit membrana tum quia a communibus [54] membranis iam memoratis obvolvebatur, tum quia tenax existens in se constans utcunque conservabatur. At in ovo foeto albumen propria indiguit membrana, quae vasorum umbilicalium stragulum esset.

Finally at this point we wonder: why in a not fertilized egg we don't see at all a peculiar membrane of the albumen, while we are seeing that one assigned to the yolk and covering it? We reply: in the egg the yolk achieved a fully its own membrane, so that belonging to its substance remained in that place, otherwise in fact it would flow out and would mix with the albumen, a thing that the membrane proper of the yolk is preventing. On the other hand the albumen didn't need its own membrane, both because it was wound by the common just mentioned membranes, and because, being compact, was keeping firm anyway. But in the fertilized egg the albumen needed its own membrane that could serve as carpet of the umbilical vessels.

Vitelli, et Albuminis Ovi Utilitates.

Utilities of yolk and albumen of the egg

Iam supra de ovi actione .i. de pulli generatione agentes, diximus, ex chalaza, quae in obtusa ovi parte consistit, pullum generari: semen autem Galli, quod in ovo neque esse potest, nequaquam in pulli partes secedere, sed duntaxat tum uterum, tum chalazas, totumque ovum foecundare, ut ex iis pullus oriatur; Itaque cum chalazae vicem seminis subeant, et substantia, colore, et fere corporis proprietate semini persimiles sint, iure ex iis omnes spermaticae appellatae partes procreabuntur. Cum vero universa animalis substantia ex duobus corporibus inter se valde diversis, quinimmo contrariis constituatur, nimirum calidis, et frigidis. (Calidae sunt partes omnes sanguineae, et rubrae, ut iecur, cor, lien, renes, pulmones, denique carnosum omne, ac muscolosum genus: contra vero frigidae sunt partes albae, et exangues, ut ligamenta, nervi, ossa, cartilagines, cerebrum, spinalis medulla, venae, arteriae, membranae, et membranosa omnia corpora, ut ventriculus, intestina, uterus, pericardium, et si quae aliae sunt<.>) {duae} <Duae> diversae hae partes procul dubio diversum inter se, sed sibi quoque simile expostulant alimentum: si modo verum est, ex iisdem nos nutriri, ex quibus constamus.

Already previously, dealing with the activity of the egg, that is, with the generation of the chick, I told that the chick is generated from the chalaza located in the obtuse side of the egg. The semen of the cock cannot be present in the egg, on the other hand, because it cannot at all arrange itself in the structures of the chick, but it can only fertilize both the uterus as well as the chalazae and the whole egg, so that from them the chick is born. Insofar, since the chalazae carry out the function of the semen and since for substance, colour and mostly for the properties of their structure are very similar to the semen, rightly all the called spermatic structures will be procreated from them. But to say the truth, the whole substance of the animal is constituted by two elements very different to each other, or rather, contrary, that is, warm and cold. (All the blood and red structures are warm, as liver, heart, spleen, kidneys, lungs and, finally, whatever is of fleshy and muscular kind. On the contrary the white structures and without blood are cold, as ligaments, nerves, bones, cartilages, brain, spinal marrow, veins, arteries, membranes and all the membranous structures as stomach, bowels, uterus, pericardium and others if they are.) These two different components without any doubt require a food different from themselves but also similar to them, if it is just corresponding to the truth that we are fed by the same things by which we are composed.

Merito itaque spermaticae, frigidae, et albae alimentum album, et frigidum: sanguinea vero rubrae et calidae, rubrum, et calidum alimentum postulabunt: Merito similiter ad frigidas, albas, et exangues nutriendas partes candidus ovi liquor, videlicet albus, frigidus, et {ex anguis} <exanguis>: ad calidas vero, et sanguineas vitellus, utputa calidus liquor, ruber, et sanguineus substitutus est. Sic enim omnes animalis partes conveniens, et familiare alimentum sibi procurabunt, et attrahent. Hoc sane alimentum ita diversum alia animalia vivipara habent ex massa sanguinea, in qua omnes sunt humores, et qualitates .s. calidiores, et frigidiores portiones, ut Hip. prodidit[26]: At in oviparis non est sanguis in ovo: sed hae duae materiae ad duo partium genera inter se dissidentia, et corpus animalis constituentia, nutrienda accommodantur.

Therefore rightly the spermatic structures, cold and white, will require a white and cold food, while the blood structures, red and warm, a red and warm food. Rightly in the same manner, to feed the cold, white and bloodless parts, the candid liquid of the egg has been entrusted, that is, white, cold and bloodless, while for those warm and sanguineous the yolk has been entrusted, which is a warm, red and blood liquid. In fact in this way all the parts of the animal will get a proper and congenial food, and they will attract it. The other viviparous animals receive this so different food from the blood mass, in which all the liquids and the qualities are located, that is, the warmer and colder parts, as Hippocrates handed down. But in the oviparous animals there is no blood in the egg, however these two materials are suitable to feed the two types of parts, different each other, and constituting the body of the animal.

Instant nonnulli adversus antedicta, videlicet sibi veram non videri causam allatam de numero duorum ovi humorum, quoniam facile uno supplere natura potuisset, qui ambas haberet mistas facultates duo illa partium genera nutriendi; sicut in aliis animalibus unum sanguinem substituit, in cuius massa calidiores, et frigidiores simul miscuit portiones: ita uno duntaxat sanguine omnium generum partes nutrivit? Respondendum, ita factum non esse, propterea quod pullus non poterat nutriri sanguine, quia in ovo sanguis non erat? in quo ex Hippo. calidiores sunt, et frigidiores portiones: merito igitur duplex materia constituta est calida, et frigida, ut ex singula singulae partes suam exugerent sibi convenientem portionem: alioqui si unum esset alimentum in uno corpore mistum, et confusum, difficulter partes invicem contrariae, quod esset suae naturae amicum segregare, et attrahere possent. Nunc vero singulae partes, quod sibi ipsis tantum familiare est, trahunt sine ulla difficultate. Quod si ita res habet, vasa quoque ex albumine attrahentia in partes exangues, et frigidas sanguinem comportabunt: quae vero ex vitello trahunt, ad calidas partes, et rubras deferent.

Some people set themselves against the previously said things, evidently because to them it doesn't seem true the reason alleged about the number of the two humours of the egg, since nature easily would have been able to replace them with only one humour possessing mixed both the capacities to feed those two types of parts, as in other animals stood in for only one blood, in whose mass it mixed together the warmer and colder portions. In this way, does it fed the parts of whatever type with only one blood? We have to reply: so didn't happen, because the chick could not be fed by the blood, since in the egg there was no blood? In this, according to Hippocrates, some warmer and colder parts are existing, thence rightly a double matter has been constituted, warm and cold, so that by each one the single parts were sucking the part suitable for them. Otherwise, if only a food mixed and blended in only one substance was present, hardly the parts contrary to each other could segregate and attract what would be compatible with their nature. Now in truth the single parts attract without any difficulty only what for them is very similar. But, if the things are so, also the blood vessels drawing from the albumen will bring the blood in the bloodless and cold parts, while those vessels drawing from the yolk will bring the blood to warm and red parts.

Unum autem admirari tum in vitello, tum in albumine oportet: quod, cum nullum eorum sanguis sit, ita tamen naturae sanguinis propinqua sint, ut modice omnino a sanguine distent, et parum absit, quin uterque liquor sanguis sit: quo et exiguo labore, levique concoctione in sanguinem vertuntur. Et ideo videre est venas, et arterias in albuminis, et vitelli membranas propagatas perpetuo sanguine refertas: albumen autem, et vitellum in sua natura consistere; sed simulatque a vasis utraque substantia exugitur, in sanguinem migrare, adeo eorum substantia vicina sanguini est. Id quod clare confirmatur observatione quadam a me facta 1604. Florentiae praesentibus Excellentiss. D. Camillo Finali Magni Ducis Medico, et Excellentissimis D. Victorio Rossio, D. Adriano Spigellio[27], et Andreghetto Andreghettio, in magno Gallinae ovo, quod existimavimus duplicem obtinere vitellum: in quo tamen versus ovi acutiorem partem vitellus naturalis {iuventus} <inventus> est: ad obtusiorem vero globulus rotundus paulo vitello minor, duriusculus, et molli membrana obductus compertus est: quo dissecto intus substantia parenchymati iecoris persimilis tum colore, tum odore, tum consistentia visa est.

But we have to admire a thing both in yolk and albumen, since, no one of both being blood, nevertheless they are so near blood's nature that they stray very little from the blood, and little is missing that both the liquids are blood, so that with a small labour and a slight digestion they turn into blood. And therefore it is possible to see that the veins and the arteries are diffused in the membranes of albumen and yolk and that they are always full of blood, while the albumen and the yolk remain with their aspect. But, as soon as both the substances are sucked by the vessels, they turn into blood, so much their substance is near to the blood. This is clearly confirmed by an observation by me done in 1604 in Florence, in presence of his excellency Camillo Finali, physician of the Grand Duke, and the very excellent Vittorio Rossi, Adriaan van den Spiegel and Andreghetto Andreghetti, in a big egg of hen which we thought was possessing two yolks. Nevertheless toward the acute side of the egg a yolk of natural size was found, while toward the obtuse side a round globule was found, a little smaller than the yolk, rather hard and covered by a soft membrane. After having sectioned it, inside has been seen a substance very similar to the parenchyma of the liver both for colour and smell and consistency.

Quod sane nil aliud nobis significat, nisi quod hic vitellus a vegeto loci calore adeo fuerit concoctus, ut in sanguinem primo sit conversus, inde in aemulam fere iecoris substantiam: Nam et nos cum aliquando sanguinem e vena emissum in aqua decoqueremus, illum crassefactum, et in iecoris fere substantiam mutatum, et colorem, odorem, et saporem iecoris redolentem observavimus. Quanquam autem haec vera sunt, existimare tamen oportet, hanc substantiam, quae e vitello, et albumine a venis exugitur, eo modo esse sanguinem, quo chylus in meseraicis venis in quibus nil aliud conspicitur, quam sanguis, cum tamen chylus umbram tantum sanguinis susceperit, perficiatur autem in iecore: sic substantia ab albo, et luteo exucta in venis statim sanguinis umbram contrahit, et magis coquitur, quo in venis magis moratur retinens adhuc proprias qualitates, nimirum calidas, aut frigidas. Sed hic sanguis potius in venis, quam in iecore elaboratur, et coquitur; evadit autem os, cartilago, caro, et caetera in ipsis partibus, ubi exacte coquitur, et assimilatur.

This for me only means that this yolk has been digested by the vivacious local heat to such a point to turn at first into blood, then in a substance almost identical to the liver. In fact, when sometimes I cooked in water the blood sent forth by a vein, I also have seen that it thickened and turned into a substance almost identical to the liver, as well as endowed with colour, smell and taste of the liver. But even if these things are true, nevertheless it is necessary to consider that this substance, sucked from yolk and albumen by the veins, is blood like the chyle is in the mesenteric veins, where only blood is seen, while nevertheless the chyle only assumed the appearances of the blood, but it is improved in the liver. So the substance, sucked from white and yellow, in the veins immediately assumes the appearances of the blood and is more digested as more stops in the veins still maintaining its qualities, that is, warm or cold. But this blood is elaborated and digested more in the veins than in the liver. In fact it becomes bone, cartilage, flesh and other structures in the same parts in which it is adequately digested and assimilated.

Est et alius albuminis usus, quo a vitello fuit segregatus, ut scilicet in albumine foetus innatet, et ita sustentetur, ne deorsum suopte pondere vergens ad unam partem inclinet, et vasa trahantur, rumpanturque, ad quod praestandum tenacitas, et puritas albuminis confert; Etenim si in vitello degeret foetus, facile deorsum in profundum descenderet cum vitelli etiam ruptione. Scribit Arist.[28] ascendere vitellum ad obtusiorem ovi partem, cum pullus concipitur. Hoc propterea fit quod ex chalaza pullus corporatur, quae vitello adhaeret, unde vitellum, qui in medio est, sursum attolli oportet ad latiorem ovi partem, ut inibi gignatur, ubi cavitas naturalis adest ad pulli salutem perquam necessaria, uti infra patebit. Ex hoc argumento, elicitur ex chalaza fieri pullum. Iam liquet, cur duo liquores in ovo positi sint, curque contrarii, alter calidus, et ruber, ut puta vitellus, [56] alter frigidus, exanguis, et albus, utputa albumen; praeterea cur unus liquor sufficiens non sit, et cur tandem temporis fere momento in sanguinem uterque commutetur: Modo vero alias utriusque liquoris utilitates recenseamus.

Also another employment of the albumen exists, which is why it was separated from the yolk, that is, that the fetus floats in the albumen and is sustained in such a way that, turning down because of its own weight, it don't tilt at one side and the blood vessels are stretched and break. To ensure this, the strength and the purity of the albumen contribute. In fact, if the fetus was laying in the yolk, easily it would go down in depth, also with the breaking of the yolk. Aristotle writes that the yolk climbs toward the obtuse part of the egg when the chick is conceived. Insofar this happens since the chick takes shape from the chalaza that sticks to the yolk, thence it is worthwhile that the yolk, placed in the middle, is brought aloft toward the wider part of the egg, so that it is generated just here where a natural cavity is, extremely necessary for the well being of the chick, as later it will be clear. From this reasoning we infer that the chick takes shape from the chalaza. Now it is clear why in the egg two liquids are found and why they have opposite characteristics, one warm and red as the yolk, the other cold, bloodless and white as the albumen; moreover why only one liquid is not enough and finally why almost instantly both turn into blood. But now let us to examine the other utilities of both liquids.

Sunt hi duo liquores non compacti, sed mollissimi, et propemodum fluidi, ut facile permeare in foetus corpus possint ad ipsum nutriendum: seu potius ut facilius verti in fluidum sanguinem valeant, quo melius permeent. Et propter hanc causam varium consistentia albumen est: videlicet alibi tenuius, et rarius, alibi densius, et crassius. Tenuius in obtusiore ovi parte, ubi foetus oritur, apparet: ut primo tempore, quod ex tenuiore albuminis parte tenuius resultat, facilius tum in sanguinem vertatur, tum per exiles venas intret, tum in foetum permeet, tum vero etiam parva cavitas adaugeatur, quae omnia primo foeturae tempore erant perquam necessaria.

These two liquids are not compact, but very soft and extremely fluid, so that they can easily penetrate in the body of the fetus to feed it, or better, so that they are able to turn more easily into fluid blood with the purpose to better penetrate. Also for this reason the albumen is of varying consistence, that is, in a point it is slighter and less dense, in another point it is denser and thicker. It appears slighter in the obtuse side of the egg where the fetus originates, so that at the beginning, what slighter originates from the slighter part of the albumen, is more easily turned into blood and not only penetrates through the thin veins but also gets into the fetus and also the small cavity is increased, all things that at the beginning of the generation were extremely necessary.

Est et alia utilitas, ut citius exsiccetur, evaporetque quidpiam ea parte, quo naturalis illa cavitas maior in dies fiat, et usum necessarium infra propalandum suppleat. Illud insuper adnotandum est, vitellum tanquam molliorem interiorem obtinuisse positionem, hoc est in medio albuminis; quo ab extrinsecus occurrentibus esset remotissimus, proindeque tutissimus: propter quam causam perfecte etiam rotundus est. Lutei coloris est vitellus, albumen albidi, ut alter calidus, alter sit frigidus. Etenim, uti alias dictum est, in animalis corpore omnia rubra calida, alba vero frigida sunt. Unde non possum libenter Aristotelis opinioni acquiescere[29], scribenti vitellum esse albumine magis terrestrem. Nam si album, frigidius, tenacius, et ponderosius est; sequitur, terrestrius esse.

Also another utility exists, that anything located in that side dries and evaporates, so that that natural cavity becomes greater day by day and gives the necessary use which will be notified later. Besides we have to signal that the yolk, being softer, occupied a more internal position, that is, at the centre of the albumen, so that it was very distant from the things happening outside and therefore extremely sure, that's why it is also perfectly round. The yolk is yellow in colour, the albumen is white, so that the first is warm, the other is cold. In fact, as elsewhere it was said, in the body of an animal all the red things are warm, while those white are cold. Thence I cannot willingly agree with the thesis of Aristotle, where he writes that the yolk is more terrestrial than the albumen. In fact if the white is more cold, more tenacious and heavier, it follows that it is more terrestrial.

Neque obstat albedo ipsius tanquam diaphano, et aereo corpori propinquior, quando et ossa cum eo quod albissima sunt, etiam maxime sunt terrestria, eo quod ex iis tenuiores partes evaporarint: quod confirmabat Arist.[30] exemplo cineris, a quo resoluto fumo tincturae opifice, albus redditur cinis. Mollis vitellus est, quia mollium partium nutrimentum erat futurum. Albumen viscosum est, quo ad nutriendas partes crassiores, durioresque esset accommodum. Ultimo vitellus albumine copiosior est, propterea quod ad calidas, humidas, mollesque partes enutriendas, ac resarciendas, de quibus vi caloris maior substantiae portio defluit, ac deperditur, erat comparatus: contra albumen. Atque haec de vitelli, et albuminis utilitatibus dicta sint.

Neither its whiteness is opposing, which is more close to a diaphanous and aerial structure, since also the bones, being very white, are also very terrestrial, because from them the slimmer parts evaporated. Aristotle confirmed this with the example of the ash: once the smoke, author of the colour, went away, the ash becomes white. The yolk is soft because had to become the nourishment of the soft parts. The albumen is sticky because it would be proper to feed the denser and harder parts. Finally, the yolk is more abundant than the albumen, since it was proper to feed and to mend the warm, damp and soft parts from which a greater quantity of substance flows out and scatters because of the strength of the heat. The contrary happens for the albumen. And these things are said about the utilities of yolk and albumen.

Galli Seminis Utilitates.

The utilities of the semen of the cock

Galli seminis usum eximium, ac praecipuum esse, videlicet uterum, ovumque faecundare, ne irritum sit, iam supra explicatum est. Hoc copiosissimum suppeditari, ut Gallus tot coitibus, quot paucis horis, immo una hora ab ipso peraguntur, sufficiat, rationi consentaneum est: ideoque recte amplissimum vas constitutum, et efformatum esse ad tantam seminis copiam suscipiendam, suggerendamque ut ex supradictis patet. Porro semen albissimum est, ut lac. Scribebat Arist.[31] semen genitale volucrum omnium album esse, ut caeterorum animalium; ego autem addo, omne semen sive animalis, {sivae} <sive> plantae album esse: differt tamen unum ab altero per maiorem, ac minorem albedinem.

Before it has been already explained that the use of the semen of the cock is unique and exclusive, that is, it fertilizes the uterus and the egg so that the lesser is not sterile. It is reasonable that it is supplied in great abundance so that the cock supplies it with so much mating as in a few hours, or better, in one hour are done by it. Insofar rightly a big container has been created and made to receive and accumulate a so great abundance of semen, as it is clear from what was previously told. Besides the semen is very white, as the milk. Aristotle wrote that the genital semen of all the birds is white, as that of the other animals. But I add that every semen, both of an animal and a plant, is white; nevertheless one differs from the other for a greater and a lesser whiteness.

Unde Arist.[32] cartilaginea aquatilia lacteum emittere humorem prodidit. Candoris cuiusque seminis causam afferens Arist. dicebat[33], quia genitura spuma est, spuma autem alba est propter spiritus seu aeris copiosi admistionem: cuius causa levissimum quoque semen est, ut emissum non decidat, sed servetur. Quod si album omne semen est, ergo frigidum, cum iam saepe dictum sit, in animalis corpore omnia alba frigida esse. Hoc tamen de corporea tantum seminis substantia intelligendum est. Nam quia ut spumosum, etiam spirituosum est, et aereum, hoc nomine calidum nativum habet multum. Est vero hoc calidum in substantia frigida collocatum quia si in substantia calida positum esset facile digeretur, dissipareturque, antequam ex ipso animal corporaretur: id quod frigiditas prohibet.

Thence Aristotle reported that the aquatic cartilaginous animals send forth a milky liquid. Reporting the reason for the  whiteness of every seed, Aristotle said that the sperm is a foam, but a foam is white because of the mixing of a puff or of abundant air, that's why the semen is also very light, so that once issued it doesn't fall, but remains intact. But, if every semen is white, it follows that it is cold, since already often we said that in the body of the animal all the white things are cold. Nevertheless this only concerns the substance constituting the semen. In fact, since, like it is foamy it is also windy and airy, because of this right it possesses a lot of innate heat. In truth this heat is set in a cold substance, since if it was set in a warm substance would be easily digested and dispersed before the animal takes shape from it, a thing that the cold prevents.

Cui rei tenacitas quoque conducit; quae etiam facit, ut in uterum semen proiectum adhaereat. Mollities autem [faciat] facit ut id ipsum corporetur facilius. Ut vero seminis in singulo coitu congrua portio emittatur, pro cunctisque sufficiat, naturam repagula, et obstacula congrua parare, ut puta vel ostiola, vel angustiam in imo vase, aut intorta capreolorum modo vasa huic muneri substitui, credibile est ultimo quamvis mole exiguum emissum semen est, virtute tamen, et facultate maximum est, ne dicam divinum: neque enim in rerum natura quid reperitur, quod tot, ac tantas ex se se exerat facultates, ut semen.

Also the toughness contributes to this, which does so that the semen  thrown in the uterus sticks. On the contrary the softness makes that it takes shape more easily. So that then in a single coition a suitable quantity of seed is sent forth and it is enough for all the mating, it is believable that the nature prepares opportune barriers and obstacles, as for example small openings or a narrow passage in the lowest part of the container, or that vessels woven as tendrils are used to this purpose. Finally, even if semen in small quantity has been sent out, nevertheless for power and faculty it is very huge, not to say divine: in fact in nature nothing is found which reveals so many and so great its own powers as the semen.

Chalazarum, et exigui circuli cicatriculam in Vitello referentis Utilitates.

The utilities of the chalazae and of the small disc similar to a little scar present in the yolk

De chalazis autem, et cicatriculae vestigio in vitelli superficie apparente, et quasi adnato, nihil est, quod dicamus; Cum de chalazis supra exacte, cum locus id exigeret, disputatum sit. Nisi forte illud addatur, Videlicet in cocto ovo, ita in se ipsis contrahi chalazas, ut conceptus, sive pulli iam iam efformati, ac geniti similitudinem referant. De pedunculi autem vestigio cicatriculam referente nihil similiter est, quod dicamus, cum nullius usus nunc sit, sed tantummodo pedusculi separationis sit vestigium. Quare Merito ultimo loco cavitatis obtusae ovi partis utilitates recensendae sunt.

There is nothing to be said about the chalazae and the track of the cicatricle visible on the surface of the yolk as if being born here above, since before we exactly discussed about the chalazae, being that the chapter required it. Unless maybe we want to add that in the cooked egg the chalazae are contracted so much in themselves to resemble a product of the conception, that is, a just formed and generated chick. Likewise on my behalf there is nothing to be said about the mark of the peduncle seeming a small scar, since it is now of no use, but which is only a remaining of the separation of the peduncle. Therefore rightly at last we have to examine the utilities of the cavity of the obtuse side of the egg.

Cavitatis, quae in parte obtusa est Ovi, et foeti, et non foeti utilitates.

The utilities of the cavity located at the obtuse side of the egg both fertilised and unfertilised

Cavitas; quae in omnibus ovis, et foetis, et non foetis maxime autem in pullum habentibus, in obtusiore ovi parte, ubi caput, et rostrum consistit, apparet: atque eo maior, quo pullus ortui, seu exitui propinquior est, conspicitur: praeterea non exacte in cacumine, sed quadantenus ad latus, neque aequalis et plana, sed obliqua visitur: maiorque est, ubi rostrum pulli consistit:  praeterea vero a primo etiam ovi ortu opacum circulum parvo numulo similem vulgo soldino exterius adversa luce refert, ovo scilicet cacumine, et acutiore parte una manu apprehensa in cocto vero ovo cortice ac membranis detractis manifestissima est, non unicam, neque vulgarem, sed plures, et eximias praebet utilitates: idque omni tempore a prima ipsa ovi natali die. Quae sane cavitas, pro ut magnitudine varia est, sic usus varios praestat. In universum autem omnis utilitas ab aere, qui in ea continetur, dependet, et fluit.

The cavity appearing in all the eggs, both fertilized and not fertilized, but especially in those having the chick, appears in the obtuse side of the egg where the head and the beak are located. And it appears as greater as the chick is near the birth, that is, near the coming out. Moreover it is not located exactly at the apex, but a little bit sideways, and doesn't appear levelled and flat, but oblique, and it is greater where the beak of the chick is located. Besides, after having grabbed the egg with only one hand, obviously in correspondence of the spike and of the acute side, also when just laid the egg externally and  against the light shows an opaque circle similar to a little coin commonly called soldino - little coin. In the cooked egg, after having removed the shell and the membranes, it is very evident and doesn't offer only one and usual utility, but quite a lot and extraordinary, and this happens in every moment starting from the first day when the egg is born. This cavity, as is varying in size, as much offers several uses. Generally every utility depends and comes from the air contained in it.

Itaque utilis est, ut minima, ut parva, ut magna, et ut maxima<.> Vel dicas, utilis aer est in cavitate contentus, ut paucissimus, ut paucus, ut copiosior, et ut copiosissimus: aut rursus tertio dicas, est utilis, et in primo ovi ortu, et per totum tempus, quo ovum non supponitur tum vero ut suppositum est, et faetum; tertio ut grandior pullus factus; ultimo ut exclusioni propinquus. Itaque pro diversa cavitatis magnitudine, et aeris copia varia, et statu ovi, et pulli vario, ita varii usus {se se} <sese> exerunt: Etenim ut minima a prima ipsa natali die ovo utilis est ad eius eventationem, conservationemque, Ut vero parva in ovo supposito, et prima pulli conceptione, dum cor palpitat, et arteriae ad eius refrigerationem attracto a corde, et arteriis aere. Ut rursus magna in aucto pullo ad usum respirationis praebendum: quo tempore pullus ampliore eget refrigeratione, quae ex respiratione comparatur. Denique ut maxima ad vocem praebendam, ut pullus e cortice excludatur.

Insofar it is useful very small or small or large or also huge. Or you could say that in the cavity useful air is contained which is very little or little or rather abundant or also very abundant. Or again in third place you could say that it is useful both as soon as the egg has been laid and for the whole time when the egg is not put to be brooded, and as soon as it has been put to be brooded and it is fertile. In third place, when the chick became larger, for last, when it is near to hatching. Therefore, according to the different size of the cavity and the varying abundance of air and the varying condition of the egg and of the chick, different employments are showing themselves. In fact, when it is very small, beginning from the first day when it is born, it is useful to the egg for its ventilation and maintenance. On the contrary it is small in the egg put to be brooded and at the beginning of the conception of the chick, when the heart and the arteries palpitate for cooling it with the air attracted by heart and arteries. Besides it is large in the grown chick for offering it the use of the respiration, since at that time the chick needs a greater cooling which is provided by the respiration. Finally it is very big, to get the voice so that the chick goes out of the shell.

Etenim in primo ovi ortu, et eo nondum supposito, et faeto, minimaque cavitate donato, exigua cavitas tantum aeris continet, ut ovi calorem eventare, ac moderate refrigerare, conservareque aliquandiu valeat. Ubi autem ovum suppositum est et iam pulli conceptio sequuta est, quo tempore cor palpitat, et arteriae; tunc ex cubantis calore exiccante maior reddita cavitas plus aeris continet, quo ad cor imprimis, indeque totum corpus vitali calore iam affectum, refrigerandum sufficiat: ideoque et cor, et arteriae pulsu perpetuo aerem in cavitate contentum attrahunt.

In fact when the egg has just been laid, and has not yet been put for brooding, and is not yet pregnant, and is endowed with a very little cavity, the small cavity contains so much air to be able to ventilate the warmth of the egg and to moderately cool it and to preserve it for a certain time. But when the egg has been put for brooding and the conception of the chick already happened, a moment when the heart and the arteries palpitate, then the cavity, made larger by the drying heat of who is brooding, contains more air, so that is enough to cool first of all the heart, then the whole body already pervaded by the vital heat. Therefore both the heart and the arteries attract the air contained in the cavity with a continuous pulsation.

Tertius cavitatis status est, cum pullus grandior factus, calorque auctus iam copiosiore indiget aere, ut refrigeretur: quo tempore respiratio iam exigitur: et aerem trahit pullus respiratione accita, sed omnino exigua, ac mitissima, qua aerem trahit pullus potius per ipsius secundae membranae poros, quam ab ipsamet cavitate; quod cavitatis tanquam {sepimentum} <saepimentum> membrana sit, atque foetus intus in membrana concludatur: sed nonnihil quoque trahere consonum est ex eo spatio, quod inter pullum, et membranam intercedit.

A third condition of the cavity is when the chick, further grown, and the heat being increased, by now it needs air in greater quantity to get cold itself. In this period the respiration is already required and the chick attracts the air being started the respiration, but which is quite superficial and very quiet, thanks to which the chick attracts the air more through the pores of the second membrane than from the cavity itself, since the membrane would be as an enclosure of the cavity and the fetus is enclosed inside the membrane. But it is reasonable that it also draws something from that space located between the chick and the membrane.

Quarta cavitatis utilitas est, cum pullus iam tam auctus est, ut respiratione indigeat valentiore, qua non amplius per ipsius membranae poros ex cavitate aer trahatur, sed ab ipsamet protinus cavitate sine membranae obstaculo, quo tempore rostro pullus, quasi refrigerii necessitate coactus, pungit, et abrumpit membranam, et ita patula facta cavitate respirationem agit per liberum aerem in cavitate contentum: qui hoc tempore longe copiosior est, quod cavitas ab iisdem causis aucta magis, et amplior ita facta est, ut pene ovi medietatem aequet.

The fourth utility of the cavity consists in the fact that when the chick is already very increased to have need of a greater respiration, since through the pores of the membrane itself no further air is attracted from the cavity, but directly from the cavity itself without the obstacle of the membrane, then the chick, almost forced by the necessity of refreshment, with the beak pricks and breaks the membrane, and after the cavity is so widened it breathes through the free air contained in the cavity, which in this moment is very more abundant, since the cavity for the same reasons became more larger and widened to such an extent to almost match the half of the egg.

Ultima cavitatis utilitas est, cum iam usque adeo auctus, et perfectus pullus est, ut per os nutriri possit, ob idque exclusionis tempus instet: propterea quod neque amplius ea respiratione, quae a cavitate, et aere in ea contento suppeditatur, neque eo alimento, qui interius ex ovi humoribus suggeritur, sed utroque exterius adveniente opus habeat:

The last utility of the cavity is when by now the chick grew and improved to such an extent to be able to feed with the mouth, and therefore the moment of hatching impends, since it doesn't need anymore neither that respiration supplied by the cavity and by the air in it contained, nor that food internally supplied by the liquids of the egg, but of both things coming from outside.

prius autem, et citius indiget externo aere quam cibo, cum alimenti adhuc aliquid intus supersit: in quo casu iam pullus, qui durum corticem prae rostri mollitie, et corticis a rostro distantia, eoque intra alam adstricto, rumpere non valet; iam signum matri dat rumpendi necessitatis: id quod per vocem efficit emissam. Etenim pullus tunc ita robustus est, et cavitas tam ampla facta, et aer ita copiosus contentus, ut iam adaucta impensius respiratione, {exufflationem} <exsufflationem>, et vocem promere possit; atque eam sane vocem profert, quae in primo ortu naturalis pullo est, forteque quidpiam petentis significatrix: quae etiam exterius audiri facile a quoque potest: praeterquam quod Plinius lib. 10. cap. 53.[34] et Arist.[35] id ipsum affirmat: videlicet vigesimo die si moveatur ovum, iam viventis intra putamen vocem audiri: pipit enim pullus aliquantulum (inquit Arist.[36]).

But as first thing and rather in a hurry it needs external air instead of food, since inside still some food remains. In such case by now the chick, which is not able to break the hard shell because of the softness of the beak and the distance of the shell from the beak and furthermore shut under the wing, by now it gives the signal to the mother of the necessity to break it, which it does by sending forth the voice. In fact now the chick is so strong and the cavity became so wide, and the contained air is so abundant that, being the respiration by now increased more intensively, it is able to expire and to send forth the voice. And really it sends forth that voice which is natural for the just born chick and perhaps expressive of asking something, and which is also easy heard outside by whoever. Apart the fact that Pliny in book X chapter 53 and Aristotle are affirming the same thing, that is, if at the 20th day the egg is moved, already inside the shell the voice of the living being is heard. In fact the chick peeps a little bit (Aristotle says).

Qua pulli voce a foetante protinus audita, quasi necessitatem rumpendi corticem cognoscens, ut nimirum pullus externo fruatur aere pro sui conservatione, aut si [maius] mavis dicas pulli dilectique filii conspiciendi desiderio foetans affecta, iam rostro corticem rumpit: qui non difficulter abrumpitur, cum eo loci propter cavitatem iam diu humoribus destitutam, et a contento aere, et calore exiccatam fragilior, friabiliorque evaserit. Vox igitur pulli primum, et maximum signum est eiusdem exitum quaerentis, externoque aere indigentis: Quam ita exacte Gallina percipit, ut si forte fortuna foetans pulli vocem internam, infernamque esse dignoscat, tum sursum pedibus ovum revolvat, ut ex ea duntaxat parte, qua vox venit<,> sine ulla pulli noxa corticem abrumpat.

As soon as this voice of the chick has been heard by the parturient, almost aware of the necessity to break the shell, obviously so that the chick uses the external air for its survival, or, if you prefer, you could say that the parent is seized by the desire to see the chick and beloved child, unhesitatingly she breaks the shell with the beak. Which doesn't get broken with difficulty, since in that point, because of the cavity already for a long time deprived of liquids and dried by the air in it contained and by the heat, it became more fragile and friable. Insofar the voice of the chick is the first and greater sign of it asking to go out and needing external air, and the hen perceives the voice so well that, if perhaps by chance the parturient realizes that the voice of the chick is inside and below, then with the legs turns the egg upward in such a way that can break the shell, without any damage for the chick, only in that part whence the voice is coming.

Addit et alterum signum. Hipp.[37] in lib. de natura pueri, pulli scilicet ex ovo exire petentis: videlicet quod pullus ubi alimento destituitur, fortiter movetur, uberius alimentum quaerens; et pelliculae circum disrumpuntur: et ubi mater sentit pullum vehementer motum, putamen {excalpens} <exscalpens>: ipsum excludit, quod viginti diebus fit. Iam igitur patet quot, et quam insignes utilitates omni tempore a memorata proveniant cavitate, maxime autem ad pulli generationem, tum conservationem.

Hippocrates in the book De natura pueri adds another sign of the chick asking to go out of the egg, that is, the chick, when is devoid of food, moves with strength asking more abundant food and the pellicles around it get broken, and when the mother feels the chick moving with vehemence, then she does it to go out striking the shell. This happens on the 20th day. Insofar it is now clear how many and remarkable utilities at every moment are coming from the aforesaid cavity, overall for the generation of the chick as well as for its maintenance.

Quae omnia optime intelligentes mulieres in supponendorum ovorum ratione versatae, ovum ad cubandum non supponunt, nisi sex, septem vel dierum intervallo ab ortu: quo tempore ovum cum prius esset plenum, aut exigua nimis cavitate praeditum, iam ab ambiente exsiccatur, digeriturque, et ita cavitatem maiorem ea parte contrahit, et efformat: id quod ex Plinio confirmatur[38], qui ova cubari intra septem dies edita utilissimum protulit: vetera[39], aut recentiora infoecunda censet: ideoque ubi ovum recens cubandum subiicitur, {infaeliciter} <infeliciter> succedit conceptio: itaque recte dicunt mulieres, plerunque suffocari pullum, quod ovum nimis plenum suppositum sit, et omni fere cavo, et aere destitutum, aut quam paucissimo: tametsi Columella[40] recentissima quoque supponenda esse scribat: quae tamen si requieta supponantur; non vetustiora admittit, quam decem dierum: recentissima commoda esse ova voluit ad supponendum, quoniam cum in obtusa ovi parte albumen tenuius sit, facile a calore cubantis eo loci albumen exiccatur, et cavitas maior, ac necessaria paratur.

The women experienced in the practice of putting the eggs to be brooded, since they know very well all these things, they  put an egg for brooding only after an interval of 6 or 7 days since it was laid. In this space of time the egg, which previously was full or endowed with a too much small cavity, by now is dried and digested by the environment and so it acquires and creates a greater cavity in that area. This is confirmed by Pliny, who reported that it is extremely useful that the eggs laid since seven days are brooded; he believes that the old or the more recent ones are infertile, hence, when a recent egg is put for brooding, the conception occurs without success. Hence the women rightly say that usually the chick is suffocated since the egg was put for brooding when it was too much full and almost devoid of any cavity and air, or that it had very little air. Although Columella writes that also those very recent must be put for brooding, and however if those not fresh are put for brooding he doesn't admit that they are older than ten days. He stated that the very recent eggs are proper to be brooded because, being the albumen rather slim in correspondence of the obtuse side, in such point the albumen is easily dried up by the heat of the brooder and a greater and necessary cavity is gotten.

In quo casu oportet, et anni temporis, et constitutionis, et omnino ambientis aeris habere rationem; quo fit, ut recte a Columella[41] scriptum sit, recentissima [60] esse supponenda ova, propterea quod aer Romae, ubi ipse degebat<,> calidior cum sit, statim exsiccare albumen, et ovi cavitatem sufficientem ad usum commodum parare potest. Ideoque in hac Patavii regione tutius (ni fallor) est ova supponere requieta: quae cavitatem iam antea paratam habeant sufficientem, huic enim communis consuetudo subscribit. Ex quo etiam sequitur, verissimum illud esse signum, quo mulieres ovum recens ad sorbendum, aut non recens {distingunt} <distinguunt>, ac discernunt, videlicet si ovo ad oppositam lucem posito[42], manuque supra crassiorem ovi partem {superpositam} <superposita>, cavitatem aut adesse, aut abesse; aut si non ex toto abesse, saltem exiguo numismati similem adesse conspiciunt: si enim cavitas nulla appareat, aut perquam exigua, recens: sin maior conspicitur, requietum esse ovum pernoscunt.

In this case it is necessary to take into account both the period of the year and the climatic conditions, above all the surrounding air. Thence it happens, as rightly by Columella has been written, that the very recent eggs are to be put for brooding since the air in Rome, where he lived, being warmer, immediately dries the albumen and can prepare a cavity of the egg sufficient for a satisfactory use. Insofar in this zone of Padua it is more sure, if I am not mistaken, to put for brooding not recent eggs having a sufficient cavity already previously prepared, and in fact the common practice is agreeing with this. It also follows that it is extremely true that sign according to which the women distinguish and detect a recent egg proper to be drunk from a not recent one, that is, if after having put the egg against the light and having put the hand on the more wide part of the egg, the cavity is present or is missing; or, if it doesn't entirely miss, if they see that at last is similar to a small coin. In fact if the cavity appears absent or very small, the egg is recent, if on the contrary it appears greater they make the sure diagnosis of a not fresh egg.

Habent etiam aliud signum, quod prae dictum sequitur. Est autem, ut ovo adversa luce posito, si lucem ovum pervadere, {itaut} <ita ut> tenuius, clariusque diaphanum intus conspiciatur, signum est, recens ovum esse: contra si lux intus obscurior visitur, tum diaphanum crassius; signum est, requietum ovum existere: ratio est, quia primo tempore ovi humores tenuiores sunt, postea vero crassiores fiunt, dissipatis videlicet tenuioribus partibus: unde et cavitas, et diaphani corporis densitas, seu crassities sequitur: propter quam causam albedo etiam, quae diaphano proxima est, et ovi levitas quoque [reiectis] recentis ovi signa sunt; nam si leve ovum est, recens esse signum est[43], quod levitas arguat, plures innatos aereos spiritus in ovo intus adhuc contineri, qui ab externo aere adhuc non sint dissipati, et ita leve ovum reddunt: Unde nonnulli ovo duntaxat manu {appraehenso} <apprehenso>, et librato an recens, vel requietum sit, agnoscunt.

They have also another sign which is adding to that above-mentioned. And it is the following: after having put an egg against the light, if the light pervades the egg so to make it appearing inside slimmer, clearer and diaphanous, it is sign that it is a recent egg. On the contrary, if the light inside appears darker and then the diaphanous is denser, it is sign that it is a not recent egg. The reason is in the fact that at the beginning the liquids of the egg are slimmer, while afterwards they become denser, that is, the slimmer parts having been dissipated, hence both the cavity and the density or thickness of the diaphanous structure are following. For this reason also the whiteness close to the diaphanous and the lightness of the egg are also signs of a recent egg: in fact, if an egg is light, it is a sign that it is recent, since the lightness shows that into the egg are still contained numerous innate aerial breaths which have not been yet dissipated by the external air and therefore they make the egg light. Therefore some people, after having taken and weighed the egg with a hand, recognize if it is recent or not recent.

Ultimum signum est ovi rugositas, vel ut melius dicamus, quid medium inter laevigatum, et rugosum, quod in nostra hetrusca lingua dicitur ruvido, hic ruspido. Ubi enim ovum laevigatum est, signum est, esse requietum; contra, si rugosum: ratio est, quia si in utero ovum laevigatum esset, facile ex se ipso exiret, et ante tempus constitutum tum suopte pondere, tum laevore ex utero foras elaberetur: requietum autem ovum laevorem contrahit, quia minimae illius extuberantiae, ab externo aere exiccantur, et complanantur[44]. Ultimo ovum recens prope ignem siccum positum, sudat: requietum minime.

Last sign is the roughness of the egg, or, to say it better, something midway between smooth and rough, which is said ruvido in our Tuscan language, here - at Padua - ruspido. In fact, when the egg is smooth, it is sign that it is not recent, the contrary if it is rough. The reason lies in the fact that, if in the uterus the egg was smooth, easily it would go out by itself, and it would slip out of the uterus before the established time both for its weight and the smoothness. On the contrary the not recent egg acquires the smoothness because its very little prominences are desiccated and levelled by the external air. Finally the fresh egg, placed in proximity of a dry fire, sweats, a not recent egg sweats very little.

Atque haec de ovo, seu de animalium ex ovo generatione dicta, sufficiant. Quae libenter tanquam commentaria, seu expositionem in capita ab Arist. de ovo conscripta constituenda candido Lectori censerem, ac proponerem, ni invitus a summo omnium praeceptore interdum deflectere coactus essem.

And these things said about the egg have to be enough, that is, about the generation of the animals from the egg. Willingly I would think and propose to deliver them to the impartial reader as commentaries or explanation of the chapters written by Aristotle on the egg, if in the meantime I had not been forced unwillingly to desist from the supreme teacher of all of us - by God.