76 Our Food Mollusks 



life and experience of Coste afford a beautiful example 

 of the dangers of optimism, though that is an important 

 subject on which much might be said. It is that the 

 most important element in this disaster to an industry 

 which, with rare good fortune, had begun so auspi- 

 ciously, was the failure to study the oyster from a 

 biological point of view at the very beginning. Had 

 Coste known that the European oyster is able to re- 

 produce only in water of a certain definite degree 

 of salinity, or density, and that such waters are to be 

 found in comparatively few localities on the French 

 coast; had he discovered that the oysters' food is abun- 

 dant only in certain localities, where peculiar conditions 

 are necessary for its production; had he investigated the 

 bearing of tide currents on the distribution of food and 

 of oyster embryos; in short, had he known the oyster 

 in relation to its surroundings, the greatest of his dis- 

 appointments would never have occurred, and the in- 

 dustry itself, instead of being discredited and retarded 

 by arousing public suspicion against claims made in the 

 name of science, would have grown without loss of time 

 and wealth. 



The present application of these reflections is to those 

 well-meaning critics of our institutions founded for the 

 purpose of promoting a scientific study of animals and 

 plants useful to man. Our state agricultural schools, 

 and our state and national fish commissions, often pub- 

 lish at public expense, technical papers that seemingly 

 have no bearing on any economic problem. This is 

 sometimes the subject of adverse comment, but not so 

 frequently as in the past. It is cause for congratulation 

 that the public is learning that a detailed knowledge of 

 the nature of organisms and their relations to their sur- 



