OYAMA 



4438 



OYSTER 



and at a very low temperature oxygen can be 

 liquefied. For commercial purposes it is made 

 from liquid air. It was discovered by Priest Uy 

 in 1774. 



Consult Benedict's Composition of the Atmos- 

 phere, icith Special : to Its Oxygen Con- 

 Related Subject*. In connection with this 

 discussion of oxygen the reader is referred to the 

 following articles in these volumes : 



nic-Acid < Fire 



Chemistry, subhead Hydrogen 



rnts Rust 



Combustion 



OYAMA, o yah' ma, IWAO, Prince (1842-1916), 

 a Japanese field-marshal and statesman, com- 

 mander-in-chief of the Manchurian forces dur- 

 ing the Russo-Japanese War, was born in Ra- 

 ima, the second son of a samurai of Sat- 

 suma. He was sent to Europe to observe the 

 progress of the Franco-Prussian War, and upon 

 his return home rose through merit to the rank 

 of lieutenant-general. In 1880 Oyama held the 

 portfolio of Minister of War, and was made 

 chief of staff in 1882. A second trip to France 

 and Switzerland for the purpose of studying 

 military tactics was taken from 1883 to 1885. 

 Oyama received the title of count, and later 

 that of general, and of privy councillor. 



During the Chinese-Japanese War (1894- 

 1895) he commanded the second army corps, 

 and after severe fighting occupied Kinchow, 

 Port Arthur and Wci-hai-wei the three pow- 

 erful strongholds of China. In recognition of 

 services he received the title of Marquis 

 and the order of the Grand Cordon of the Ris- 

 ing Sun. Three years later (1898) Oyama was 

 promoted to the highest military rank, field- 

 -lial. In the Russo-Japanese War he was 

 commander-in-chief of the Manchurian army, 

 and the pro.it victories of the Japanese forces 

 <-ly due to his tactics. In 1906 Oyama 

 \r<l the British Order of Merit, and the 

 following year the Mikado bestowed on him 

 the rank of prince. He was also decorated with 

 the Grand Order of the Chrysanthemum. 



OYSTER, ois'tcr. A schoolgirl, required in 

 an examination to give a definition of oyster, 

 wrote, "An oyster is a mushy substance en- 

 closed in a shell." A great many people might 

 regard this as an entirely adequate definition, 

 for it is difficult to think of the headless, limb- 

 less and speechless oyster as an animal, or, in 

 fact, as anything but a soft substance that, when 

 served on the half-shell, is a delicacy which 

 has few equals. But this same "dumb" oyster, 

 though it is meagerly equipped with special 



senses and has no brain at all, is more valu- 

 able to man than any other single product of 

 the fishing industry, and the ten billion or so 

 of oysters produced in the world every year 

 provide food for the people of at least twenty- 

 five countries. 



Description. Among the subdivisions of the 

 animal kingdom the oyster is classed as a mol- 

 lu$k (which see), a group containing animals 

 with soft, fleshy bodies covered usually by 

 shells. The oyster is a denizen of salt waters, 

 thriving best in quiet, shallow inlets. As this 

 stanza of an old song puts it 



The herring loves the open sea, 

 The mackerel loves the wind ; 

 But the oyster loves the quiet tide, 

 For It comes of a gentle kind. 



The shell of the oyster, which forms a little 

 house for it to live in, consists of two parts 

 called valves, which are fastened at one end 

 by a hinge. By means of a strong adductor 

 muscle, which attaches the soft body to the 

 shell, these valves can open (about half an 

 inch) and shut as the inmate desires. In its 



J 



PARTS OF THE OYSTER 



(a) Hinge 



(b) Ganglia of the nervous system 



(c) Blood vessel from gills to auricle of heart 



(d) Ventricle 



(e) Auricle 



(/) Pores from which water issues into bronchial 

 canals after passing through gills 



(g) Mantle (arrows show direction of current 

 produced by cilia) 



(7i) Gills 



(i) Outline of organ of Bojanus, the so-called 

 kidney 



O') Adductor muscle 



natural state the oyster rests on the left valve, 

 which is larger, thicker and more convex, or 

 hollowed out, than the right one. Usually it 

 attaches itself by this left valve to a rock or 

 other object on the sea bottom, remaining fixed 

 for life, and sometimes several oysters lie fas- 

 tened to one another. If it so happens that 

 there are too many in one group, or bed, the 

 under ones may sink into the mud and die of 

 starvation and suffocation. 



Every oyster-shell is lined with a fold of 

 muscle called a mantle, which grows from each 



