768 OYSTERS, AND ALL ABOUT THEM. 



20, 1861, to the Emperor: 'I thank your Majesty for 

 having placed me in the front ranks of the greatest enter- 

 prise of the age, in connection with animate nature.' 

 Attempts were multiplied, but progress and success seemed 

 more and more retarded and lessened in the course of 

 time. The bay of Saint-Brieuc was swept by a tempest. 

 At Arcachon discouragement seized upon those who, in 

 the beginning, were most enthusiastic, for little or no 

 spawn was collected. Coste heard the name of charlatan 

 sounded in his ears ; his work was ridiculed even by those 

 whom, in the expectation of success, he had loaded with 

 favours, and our modern Athenians were lavish in criticisms, 

 in which neither sarcasm nor bitterness were spared. En- 

 feebled by his labours and deprived of sight, Coste struggled 

 on. He hoped against all hope, and maintained that the 

 application of his principles would even change the social 

 conditions of the sea-coast communities. His views were 

 met only by incredulity. He died at his post, despondent, 

 greatly discouraged, and to the last hour misunderstood by 

 that multitude who treat with contempt all great ideas 

 which do not meet with immediate success. While others 

 were occupied in criticising, a few men laboured faithfully, 

 and in a few years, between 1868 and 1875, the production 

 and cultivation of oysters made remarkable progress on the 

 shores of Morbihan." 



" Principal cause of the failure of Coste. It is evident to 

 all that, in spite of the scientific knowledge, the zeal and 

 the labours of Coste, his attempts, so far as regards com- 

 mercial results, were radically fruitless. Nevertheless, he 

 had at his disposition apparatus, boats, auxiliaries as intel- 

 ligent as devoted, and also, to a certain extent, the resources 

 of the public treasury. Still the reason is very simple. 

 That impersonal being, called the State, is incapable of 



