222 OYSTERS, AND ALL ABOUT THEM. 



and rends it from its remaining shell ; then he impales it 

 with a three-pronged fork, and horribile dictu ! still living 

 and palpitating, he throws it into his mouth, where the 

 teeth cut, and crush, and grind it. 



"We have said that oysters have in common with their 

 family neither head nor arms ; that they are without eyes, 

 without ears, without nose ; they cannot move, they cannot 

 cry. Quite true ; but all these negatives do not assert 

 that they are insensible to pain. Two celebrated Germans, 

 Brant and Ratzeburg, have shown that the oyster possesses 

 a well-developed nervous system ; and if they have organs 

 of sensation they must suffer. ' Can an animal with nerves 

 be impassive ?' asks Voltaire. Can we suppose any such 

 impossible contradiction in nature ? 



"We hasten, however, to tranquillise the minds of the 

 dredgers, the breeders, the sellers, and the consumers of 

 the oysters ; and to excuse the indifference of the protect- 

 ing societies ; for there is a great difference between a 

 helpless, imperfect mollusc, and the higher class of ani- 

 mals. In the case of the former we swallow the whole 

 animal, scarcely thinking of its animal nature. It is a 

 denizen of another element ; it lives in a medium in which 

 we cannot exist ; it presents itself in a form we may call 

 degraded ; it has an obscure vitality, motions undecided, 

 and habits scarcely discernible. We may, therefore, wit- 

 ness the oyster mutilated mutilate it ourselves crush it, 

 and swallow it, without a passing pang, or yet a feeling of 

 remorse, and without laying ourselves open to the charge 

 of cruelty. 







" Following the example of the Romans, oysters are 

 placed in reservoirs, where they grow larger and assume a 



