[51] THE OYSTER AND OYSTER-CULTURE. 133 
the shell. In some pearls taken from Schleswig-Holstein oysters there 
has been found a proportionally greater amount of carbonate of lime 
than is found in the shells themselves. Brilliant pearls, suitable for 
ornaments, are seldom found in oysters, those generally taken being 
white and without brilliancy. However, an oyster-eater in Hamburg 
once discovered, by means of his tongue, a pearl which he sold to a 
jeweler for 66 marks (about $16.50). Nearly all mussels have more 
beautiful shells than that of the oyster, but in delicacy and fineness of 
flavor the oyster surpasses every other mollusk. Ouly those materials 
can be tasted which, dissolved in fluids, come in contact with the organs 
of taste. Hence the flavor of the oyster depends upon substances which 
are either in solution in the juices of the body of the oyster or which 
become dissolved in the mouth of the eater. Fresh, living oysters, as is 
the case with all sea-animals, contain very much water. In order to 
estimate the proportion of water the greatest. care must be taken in 
removing the oyster from the shell, especially when the shell-muscle 
uniting the two valves is cut. The exterior of the body must first be 
dried with blotting-paper, the body then weighed and finally placed 
under the air-pump and all the water drawn out. Two Schleswig-Hol- 
stein oysters which were taken from the shell and dried, weighed to- 
gether 14.70 grams, and after all the water had been drawn from them 
they weighed only 3.05 grams. They thus contained 79.25 per cent. 
of water and only 20.75 per cent. of solid material. Two other large 
oysters, which had been previously deprived of their gills and mantles, 
weighed together 20.55 grams; after being thoroughly dried they weighed 
4.809. Thus, their edible portion contained 76.64 per cent. of water and 
25.36 per cent. of solid material. 
A large number of investigations upon Schleswig-Holstein oysters 
demonstrated that the entire animal contained from 21.5 to 23 per cent. 
of solid material, while the body, without the gills and mantle, contained 
from 23 to 24.5 per cent. of solid material.* Making due allowance for 
size, there is a somewhat greater difference in the proportion of solid 
material between oysters and fish than between oysters and birds and 
mammals, for— 
Per cent. of 
solid material, 
Trout-flesh contains .......... a aes eR eae eee me OG eae Le 19.5 
Are HM ESE COMDAINS 2.0 12/5 2,+ eletejo- oy amet ae alee somone eens «ae So 20.2 
HOT etCONUARIS ice. caus Siac wore Fa gioks weer ee cree Naas chs ba 
NMG TMC CHTIIENINT Seti. ce Soa eo 2a Sears ea eR era eee baleen ee Stn ADRS 
SCAM MEITINS eT eee Gik,  c hc orc. kad SAN. ish pain! lees Beets tele ao 25 i 22.5 
Fowl-flesh contains ....... ee ccfard'S, cso are ee eee aa setae = Cake a spn gi 38 22.7 
*JT am indebted to Prof. O. Jacobsen, of Rostock, for all the information that I have 
given in chapter 12 in regard to the chemical constituents of the Schleswig-Holstein 
oysters. In June, 1871, when he lived in Kiel, he analyzed, at my request, a number 
of oysters which I had received fresh from the Schleswig-Holstein beds. 
t The figures quoted in the comparison of the amounts of solid materials in different 
kinds of flesh are based upon the analyses of Schlossberger and Von Bibra. They 
were taken from the Elements of Physiological Chemistry of Gorup-Besanez, third 
edition, 1874, p. 682, 
