ARTIFICIAL OYSTER CULTURE. 1145 



the American oyster. It appears, moreover, that a French 

 savant, M. Bouchon-Brandely, the Secretary of the. College 

 de France, was encouraged to similar experiments by the 

 observations of Professor Brooks, and that having reached 

 the same conclusions as Lieutenant Winslow, though quite 

 independently of that officer, as to the breeding habits of 

 the Portuguese oyster, he has overcome the practical diffi- 

 culties, and has succeeded in producing oysters of com- 

 mercial value from eggs artificially impregnated. Similar 

 results have since been obtained by Mr. Ryder, in Mary- 

 land, so that the artificial breeding of oysters may now be 

 regarded as a practical undertaking on both sides of the 

 Atlantic. We cannot but congratulate ' A Naturalist ' on 

 this triumphant demonstration of the practical value of 

 marine biological research. The commercial importance 

 .pf the discovery of Professor Brooks and M. Bouchon- 

 Brandely is obviously immense, and it opens up a prospect 

 of unlimited extent to the whole gastronomical world. 

 The possible extinction of the unaccommodating 'native' 

 may now be regarded with comparative equanimity. Its 

 marsupial habits, so to speak, unfit it for the struggle for 

 existence. Its parental affection is its ruin. Its place will 

 be taken by the less philoprogenitive but not less delicate 

 bivalve of Baltimore or of Portugal. Meanwhile the con- 

 trast between the two may well serve to point the moral of 

 scientific research, and to promote the establishment in 

 these isles of Marine Biological Laboratories. 



"What science has already done for the oyster it may 

 well be expected to do in time for many another of our 

 sea-fishes and shell-fishes. The field of research is almost 

 inexhaustible, and science would be perfectly ready to cul- 

 tivate it if once it could obtain the means and opportunities, 

 even if no practical object were in view. Science, indeed, 



