Newlaid eggs have a peculiar gloss upon them and a
bright colour. Dirty or cracked eggs must be unmerci-
fully rejected. And Danish societies do not hesitate
to expel members who repeat the offence of delivering
bad eggs. Rough shells constitute more or less of a
defect, because they lead consumers to suspect that the
rough shelled egg is a "pickled "one sold for new. Rough
shelled eggs accordingly should be discouraged.
Such general examination is followed by the now well-
known "testing" or "candling" — in a dark room. The
egg is held up against a powerful light which, hke an
X-ray, tells what is inside — whether a bright yolk, with
a small airspace, or an advanced ovum, with a large air-
space and a film or shadow, or, worst of all, an eggsub-
stance in course of conversion into a Uve bird. The more
powerful is the hght, the more clearly will it reveal what
is within the shell ; and the more expeditiously wiU it
admit of the examination being carried out. But in no
case should this be done in a careless manner. Some
societies, grudging the time, have devised a method of
"candhng" a whole tray of 120 eggs together, ready
for packing, in their several compartments, which is said
^o occupy only about half a minute. Such testing, however,
cannot possibly be as thorough and trustworthy as
testing egg by egg. And, really, even that does not take
very long. A trained tester may be relied upon for testing;
five or six hundred eggs within an hour.
