Ixiv INTRODUCTION. [CH. 



more to the sustenance of man, by supporting the innu- 

 merable shoals of cod, ling, haddock, halibut, and various 

 other sorts of fish which abound in our seas and provide 

 a constant livelihood for a hardy race, and through them 

 for a great part of our population, who, both from neces- 

 sity and choice, are fish-eaters. Our Continental neigh- 

 bours, not being so well supplied as we are with sea-fish, 

 do not disdain any " frutti del mare." The date-shell 

 (Lithodomus dactylm), which is extracted with much 

 labour from the solid rock on the coasts of the Mediter- 

 ranean, is reckoned a dish fit for an emperor ; and M. 

 Re*cluz says of a kind of cockle (Cardium Icevigatum), 

 " Sa chair est savoureuse et prise"e du gourmet." 



The Romans had their oyster-beds, as well as their 

 Cochlearia or snail-preserves ; and Varro, in his 3rd 

 Book ("De villaticis pastionibus "), describes fully the 

 method adopted by his countrymen for improving the 

 different breeds of oysters by crossing. The improve- 

 ment of the breed of oysters, as well as their preserva- 

 tion, ranks in France as a science, and has received the 

 name of " huitreculture," its professor being M. Coste. 

 We can, but (alas !) do not, manage these things so 

 well. Even land-snails are pressed into the service of 

 the French, and enter rather largely into their cookery. 

 No one can have traversed the streets of Paris, or of the 

 larger towns in France, without seeing dishes of Helix 

 pomatia temptingly displayed in the shops of restaurants, 

 like kidneys and white-bait in the windows of London 

 eating-houses. The list of eatable snails in France is 

 very considerable and comprises some comparatively 

 small species. " Chacun a son gout ! " 



(Medicine.) In our pharmacopoeia of former times a 

 decoction of snails was much esteemed as a remedy in 

 pulmonary complaints ; and great numbers of them were 



