Note 595 — Chapter XV · ON THE SHAPES OF EGGS, AND OF CERTAIN OTHER HOLLOW STRUCTURES
Reading edition
Jacob Steiner suggested a Cartesian oval, r + m r′ = c, as a general formula for all eggs (cf. Fechner, Ber. sächs. Ges., 1849, p. 57); but this formula (which fails in such a case as the guillemot), is purely empirical, and has no mechanical foundation.