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herbs. In this state they are sent into places far remote from 
the sea, heaped on each other in small barrels without their 
shells. 
If oysters almost always present a nutriment light and 
agreeable, it sometimes happens, though but rarely, that they 
produce grievous accidents. It is generally supposed that 
such accidents are more serious when they are eaten in 
certain months of the year, when they deposit their spawn, as 
in June, July, and August, but this is now considered 
erroneous. 
The species of oyster most commonly eaten, is that which, 
from this very circumstance, has been justly named Ostrea 
edulis, and the one which is found in the greatest abundance. 
But there are also many others which serve for the nutriment 
of man. It appears, generally, that the oysters of hot climates 
are less agreeable than ours, whether this be attributable or no 
to the species or to the climate. 
The oysters have a great number of enemies. It is reported 
that the crabs, to eat them with security, clap a small stone 
between their valves when they are partly open, to hinder 
them from closing. Credat Judeus. Among their enemies, 
there are many that introduce themselves furtively, and suffer 
themselves to be enclosed in the cavity of the valves. Others 
pierce them slowly, and all finish by killing the animal and 
living on it. It has been observed, that the oyster, to defend 
itself against the first, possesses the faculty of shooting forth 
very strongly the water which it holds in reserve in its body, 
and it can retard, and even hinder the action of the second by 
augmenting, at will, the thickness of the shell, in the place 
exposed to danger. 
Some persons have, proceeding gradually, succeeded in 
making certain species of the oyster live in fresh-water. 
It is not necessary to dwell upon the therapeutic qualities 
which have been attributed to oysters, because none of them 
