534- POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



great into toucli with the commonplace, that delineates the forces 

 which arise to their greatest grandeur only in a man here and 

 there, that enables us to contrast the best in us with the poverty 

 of him, and then we may do intelligent homage. To know that 

 the greatest men of earth are men who think as I do, but deeper, 

 and see the real as I do, but clearer, who work to the goal that I 

 do, but faster, and serve humanity as I do, but better — that may 

 be an incitement to my humility, but it is also an inspiration to 

 my life. 



THE SCALLOP {Pecten irradians). 



By FRED MATHER. 



WHETHER we follow the old spelling of '"' escalop," the mod- 

 ern form of " scallop," now used by naturalists, or write it 

 " scollop," after the manner of the fishermen, we find all three 

 modes sanctioned by the dictionaries. Near the seacoast this 

 mollusk is a great favorite, rivaling the clam and the oyster, and 

 by many persons preferred to either. The home demand is so 

 great that the " scollop " is not sent far inland, and it is a mat- 

 ter of surprise how little is popularly known of the animal of 

 which a portion is seen in our seaboard markets during the fall 

 and winter months by' those who sell and those who eat them. 



For many centuries the beautiful form of the scallop shell has 

 been a favorite with artists, who have used it as an ornament in 

 sculpture, pottery, and in designs of many kinds, and it is found 

 on the armorial bearings of families whose ancestors had made a 

 pilgrimage to the Holy Land or to Spain : 



For the scallop shows in a coat of arms 



That, of the bearer's line, 

 Some one in former days hath been 



To Santiago's shrine. 



The shell is not found on the Atlantic coast of Europe, but is 

 common on the shores of Judea and other parts of the Mediter- 

 ranean ; hence its possession was evidence of the pilgrimage, and 

 the Crusaders always wore the shell on their hats after returning. 

 Fuller says : " The scallop shell (I mean the nethermost of them, 

 because most concave and most capacious) was often the cup and 

 dish to the pilgrims in Palestine ; their arms they always charged 

 therewith." The delicate shell has commended itself to makers of 

 toilet and other articles for ladies' use, such as pincushions, made 

 either in one valve or between both shells ; needlebooks and many 

 other things are made from them, but they are too frail for some 

 uses that shells have been put to, such as scrapers, scoops, and 

 dishes, yet from their employment by cooks to serve a peculiar 



