140 EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSCA. 



whose trade was not very extensive, procured a few 

 thousand oysters from Falmouth, and, out of thirst for 

 gain, he sent them off to Rochefort, before they had 

 sojourned more than three weeks in the beds set apart 

 for their purification. These oysters caused alarming 

 symptoms, and M. Cuzent, being called upon to test 

 them, as they had been seized in the market at Roche- 

 fort, found copper in them, the quantity being about 

 twenty-three centigrammes per dozen oysters.* I have 

 elsewhere given an account of the finding of copper in 

 the Falmouth oysters; one of the tests used by M. 

 Cuzent was so very simple, that any one might discover 

 the presence of copper. It is as follows : — An ordinary 

 needle is thrust into the green part of the oyster, and 

 then the mollusk was immersed in pure vinegar. When 

 copper was present, thirty seconds sufficed to cover the 

 portion of the needle embedded in the oyster with a red 

 coatiug of copper, f 



The amount of shell-fish consumed in Paris annually, 

 including lobsters, crayfish, oysters, &c, is immense. 

 In 1867, the consumption of oysters in Paris was 

 26,750,775, of which the greater portion came from 

 Courseulles-sur-Mer, and from Saint Vaast-de-la- 

 Hougue.J In the 'Revue des Deux Mondes/ Janvier 

 l er , 1884, it is stated that the consumption of oysters in 

 Paris alone was 2,000,000. 



Oysters are not packed in barrels, as with us, but at 

 the restaurants and in the wine-shops are seen very 

 shallow baskets, in shape resembling a small shield, 

 with a thatching or wall of straw on either side, rising 



* * Galignani's Messenger.' t ' Field,' March 14th, 1868. 



% ' Revue des Deux Moudes,' " L'Alimentatiou de Paris," tome kxv. 

 15 Juin, 1868. 



