smiling. The white is simply jelly-fish subjected to a
chemical process--jelly-fish aren't costly. This tank is full of the
liquor. The main ingredient of the yolk is the horse-heel glue mentioned
before; we also boil down vast quantities of rats--they come cheap, too;
it's only the cost of catching them; and then there's a vegetable
colouring, and the preservative, and a few other trifles. First, the two
halves of the white are made in two moulds, and frozen; then the two
frozen halves are frozen together, and the yolk-mixture poured in
through a small hole, which is then closed. Then comes the skin; and
that is the most expensive part, for it contains a certain quantity of
rubber. We have tried in vain to find a substitute for rubber, but
failed hitherto. The rubber is mixed with a gum from a South American
tree, and the mixture is applied with a brush over the frozen egg; and
then the egg, still frozen, is dipped in a lime composition very nearly
identical with the oyster-shell mixture; and, lastly, the whole thing is
passed through the finishing machine, which turns the three thin lines
and the two thin spots, imitates the pores of the shell, and delivers
the finished egg to the warehouse.'

"'Marvellous!' we involuntarily exclaimed.

"'Oh, that's nothing at all,' said the director. 'We're meditating
turning out eggs that will hatch and become fowls. At present we have to
manufacture fowls; but we calculate to make a great saving by producing
them from the eggs we make. That building over yonder is the terrapin
factory; we turn out eleven tons of terrapin weekly. We make clams, of
course--in the oyster department. In this next house we make kidneys and
sweetbreads. Fruit? Oh, yes, we turn out masses of fruit; peaches pay
best, but we do very well with nuts.'

"We were then conducted to the show-room, where we tasted a number of
other products of the wonderful factory; and we had just said a grateful
farewell to our courteous guide, when we were seized with pains of the
most acute description.

* * * * *

[Illustration: The Pain.]

"The arrangements of the hospital were admirable. The kindliness and
attention we received made our five years' sojourn there a time to look
back upon with feelings of gratitude. We are assured that, with strict
diet and unremitting care, we may last some time yet--possibly even
three months."

* * * * *

"It was a ma