OYSTERS. 373 



With a great knife he brutally opens the shell, cuts through the 

 muscle by which it adheres to the valve, and violently detaches it, 

 after breaking the hinges. It is now laid out on a plate, exposed to 

 every current of air, and in this state of suffering it is carried to the 

 table. There the pitiless gourmet powders it over with the most 

 pungent pepper, squeezes over the wounded and still bleeding body 

 the abomination of its race in the shape of citric acid or vinegar, and 

 then, alas ! with a silver knife which cannot cut, he wounds and 

 bruises it a second time ; or, worse still, he saws and tears and rends 

 it from its remaining shell ; he seizes it with a three-pronged fork, 

 which is driven through liver and stomach, and throws it into his 

 mouth, where the teeth cut, crush, and grind it, and, while still living 

 and palpitating, reduced to an inanimate mass, these organs first tritu- 

 rate it, while our gourmet is drinking its blood, its fat, and its bile. 



We have said that oysters have no head, no arms that they are 

 without eyes (although that is disputed), without ears, and without 

 nose ; that they do not stir that they never cry ! 



Agreed, perfectly agreed ; but all these negatives do not prevent its 

 being sensible to pain. Two eminent Germans, Herren Brandt and 

 Eatzeburg, have proved that they possess a well-developed nervous 

 system, and if they possess sensation they must suffer. "Can an 

 animal with nerves be impassible ?" asks Yoltaire. " Can we suppose 

 any such impossible contradiction in Nature ?" 



There is consolation, however, for all concerned. Let the humani- 

 tarian fishermen, oyster-dredgers, merchants, and consumers, console 

 themselves with the vast difference between the helpless imperfect 

 mollusc and the higher classes of animals. In the case of the former 

 we swallow the animal, scarcely thinking of its animal nature. It is 

 the denizen of another element, lives in a medium in which we cannot 

 exist, presents, itself in a form, so to speak, degraded an obscure 

 vitality, motions undecided, and habits scarcely discernible. We may 

 therefore see the oyster mutilated, mutilate them oneself, grind them, 

 and swallow them, without emotion or remorse. 



A learned naturalist dwelling on the sea-shore possessed himself one 

 day of a dozen oysters. He wished to study their organization ; he 

 turned them, and turned them again, examined their several parts 

 inside and out. He made drawings of and described them, and, having 

 satisfied himself that he had exhausted Science in observing, he 



