52%. 'Natural History of Molluscous Animals : — 



and sedentary orders of animals, as of oysters, periwinkles, 

 and the like ; for which I have sometimes been at a loss to 

 find out amusement."* There is much of truth in these 

 remarks of the great moralist ; but, nevertheless, the enjoy- 

 ments, even of the oyster, are not so few arid unvaried as on 

 a first glance we might deem they were. Among the number- 

 less happy creatures which crowd our world, the shellfish 

 and the still more helpless Ascidia play, it is true, no obtru- 

 sive part, yet neither do they mar the scene by their depri- 

 vations. The performance of every function with which their 

 Creator has endowed them, brings with it as much pleasure 

 and happiness as their organisation admits of: in the gentle 

 agitation of the water which floats around them, in its varied 

 temperature, in the work of capturing their prey, in the im- 

 bibition and expulsion of the fluid necessary to respiration, 

 &c., they will find both business and amusement ; and, in due 

 season, love visits even these phlegmatic things, 



" And icy bosoms feel the secret fire." 

 Oysters, then, and the erratic Mollusca in a somewhat higher 

 degree, are capable of having agreeable and varied sensations, 

 which, however, are purely organical. They cannot recall 

 them when past, to reenjoy ideal happiness ; they are neither 

 benefited by experience, nor guided to any act by intelligence. 

 I am aware that some naturalists have gone so far as to say 

 that, in some instances, they are so ; but the facts, few and 

 somewhat doubtful at the best, will by no means warrant such 

 a conclusion. For example, we are told that oysters, when 

 removed from situations that are constantly covered with the 

 sea, from want of experience, open their shells, lose their 

 water, and die in a few days : but, when taken from similar 

 situations, and laid down in places from which the sea occa- 

 sionally retires, they feel the effect of the sun's rays, or of the 

 cold air, or, perhaps, apprehend the attacks of enemies, and 

 accordingly keep the valves close till the tide returns.f When 



104 



divested of its hypothetical language, this fact assuredly 

 affords no proof, as it was intended it should, that oysters 



* Moral Phil., book i. chap. 6. f Bingley's Anim. Biog., iii. 564. 



