You should definitely not do this with eggs you buy from the store (at least here in the US).
"US eggs would be illegal in Europe due to an egg-washing process that may actually make them more susceptible to contamination with bacteria like Salmonella."
The rest of this article explains why: http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2013/12/07/refrigerating-chicken-eggs.aspx
If you haven't spent hours digging through the Mercola web site, you should.
Very good advice. I should add that in. You are totally right. The eggs I was referring to were farm fresh ones for sure. I hope people realize that since I was referring to the 18th century that I was talking about farm fresh. I'll check the site. Thanks.
I miss our chickens.
You couldn't buy eggs like those at any price and they were better entertainment than 99% of what you find on the TV or internet.