106 
NATURE 
[ DECEMBER 3, 1896 
-oyster to absorb, retain, and transmit the typhoid 
bacillus and the cholera vibrio. The first part of the 
inquiry was entrusted to Dr. Timbrell Bulstrode, and the 
second portion to Dr. Klein. Their reports, which are 
suitably illustrated with photographs and maps, constitute 
the material on which Dr. Thorne Thorne bases his 
introductory remarks. 
copy of Prof. Conn’s report already alluded to, and an 
extract from the Proceedings of the Académie de Médicine 
in Paris, relating to the spread of disease through the 
agency of oysters. 
The value and extent of the oyster trade in this country 
may be gleaned from the following figures, furnished by 
Dr. Bulstrode. In 1894 there were landed on the English 
and Welsh coasts, by English dredgers, 27,747,000 
oysters, valued at £84,271, the average price being per 
100, 6s. I1@., and per 1000, £3 os. 10d. These were 
delivered on the several coasts as follows :— 
Oysters. Value. 
East Coast 16,833,000 £58,300 
South Coast ... 4,251,000 11,186 
West Coast ... 6,663,000 14,785 
27,747,000 $4,271 
These figures relate only to oysters landed by English 
boats employed in the home industry; in addition 
-enormous quantities are imported from abroad, partly 
for relaying, and partly for more or less immediate con- 
sumption. American oysters, known as “ Blue points,” 
“East rivers,” and “Sounds” are mainly received at 
Liverpool and Southampton, whilst the Dutch and 
Belgian oysters chiefly come to Grimsby and Brightling- 
sea. A considerable number also are received from 
Scotch and Irish beds. 
It is generally assumed, at all events, by the more 
-educated lovers of the bivalve, that oysters are “out of 
season” during such months as have not the letter “r” 
in their names, and as a matter of fact the “close time” 
for oysters, born and bred in this country, extends from 
May 14 to August 4—that is during the spatting season. 
But that portion of the community which is referred to 
in the report as “the less fastidious class,” and which is 
“addicted to the practice of sea-side trips of brief 
-duration,” is addicted also to the practice of eating the 
oyster at any time of the year it can be got, and in the 
summer months, therefore, has to content itself with the 
imported varieties, the restriction as to “close time” not 
applying to oysters taken in the waters of a foreign State. 
It would appear from the returns that the largest 
number of oysters is consumed in September; but, 
although the number eaten diminishes as the year draws 
to a close, their value steadily increases up to December, 
when it gradually diminishes, month after month, until it 
reaches a minimum in June or July. 
As the result of Dr. Bulstrode’s inquiries and observ- 
-ations, it is distinctly disquieting to be told that only a 
few of the oyster layings, fattening beds, or storage ponds 
round the English and Welsh coasts can be regarded as 
theoretically free from every possible chance of sewage 
pollution. At the same time, in the case of the majority 
of them, the polluting matter is mixed with so vast a 
bulk of water that there is little substantial risk of de- 
leterious influence. The possible mischief is due to the 
circumstance that the cultivation of the oyster is mainly 
carried on at points on the coast which are readily 
accessible, and where labour can be easily obtained, or, 
in other words, in tidal estuaries in the neighbourhood 
of more or less populous places, into which, therefore, the 
sewage of such places is apt to be delivered. In the 
report, three such localities are singled out for special 
condemnation ; viz. Southend, where, as regards one 
laying, “the sea-bottom and the matters floating on the 
surface, afford the most obvious proof that the conditions 
are filthy in the extreme”; at Cleethorpes, where the 
NO. 1414, VOL. 55] 
In the appendix are given a | 
layings are exposed to the influence of sewer outfalls, 
serving (counting that of Grimsby) populations of about 
67,000 ; and the Medina, in the Isle of Wight, of which 
it is stated that “it seems almost beyond comprehension 
how any one could venture to ‘fatten’ oysters for human 
consumption in a river estuary such as this, which is 
fouled above the layings by the crude sewage of New- 
port, with its 10,000 inhabitants, by the effluent from the 
neighbouring prison and barracks, and by the overflow 
from the workhouse cesspool ; and which receives into it 
immediately below the layings the contents of eight other 
sewer and drain outfalls from East Cowes and West 
Cowes.” It is further pointed out that “the layings in 
the Penryn River, Cornwall, and those in Brightlingsea 
Creek, in Essex, also call for especial notice in connection 
with the obvious risk of sewage pollution. At Bright- 
lingsea this risk has more than once been drawn attention 
to by the local health officer. The layings in the South 
Channel, off Southwick, near Shoreham, are similarly 
exposed to sewage ; and in a minor degree, on account 
of the great bulk of water there in question, such layings 
as those in the Menai Straits come under suspicion. 
From most, if not all, of these layings, oysters are 
despatched direct to market.” 
On the other hand, some of the most celebrated layings 
on the coast of Essex and Kent—as in the Crouch, Roach 
and Blackwater, and off the Swale—are practically free 
from risk, although the layings in the bed of the Colne ~ 
which presumably furnish the supplies for the -time- 
honoured “‘ Colchester feast,” are subjected to the ccm- 
paratively concentrated effluent of Colchester sewage at 
low water, and to the additional pollution to which the 
river is subjected at Wivenhoe and Rowhedge. — 
The conditions under which the oysters are stored in 
beds, ponds, or pits, pending despatch to market, natur- 
ally received close attention. The layings or “fattening” 
places might be everything that could be desired, but 
the oysters, when lifted, might still be stored in a most 
objectionable manner. The boxes off Southend Pier, for 
example, float in what is practically dilute sewage. A 
set of storage pits at the mouth of the Blackwater was 
found to be within forty-three yards of the point at 
which the drainage of twenty houses is discharged. At 
Wivenhoe “‘it is impossible to see how the oysters there 
stored in pits can escape contamination by sewage.” 
The means for the storage of oysters in the Fish Dock 
at Grimsby, are stated to be particularly offensive and 
dangerous. “It would be difficult to find much worse 
conditions than those under which certain storage pits 
are placed at Poole.” ... ‘At Warsash, above the 
junction of the Hamble River with Southampton Water, 
a sewer was found opening out just between two oyster 
ponds. Again at Emsworth, near Havant, a sewer and 
certain drain outfalls have been conveyed into the middle 
of a group of oyster pits, and matters are little better at 
Bosham.” 
On the other hand, the methods of storage on the 
Crouch and Roach, and for the most part also of the 
Blackwater, leave little to be desired, and the same may 
be said of the layings and means of storage in the 
Helford River in Cornwall, and at Newtown Estuary in 
the Isle of Wight. 
To judge, however, from the frequency of instances to 
the contrary, it would almost seem that the cultivators 
were under the belief that the oyster actually enjoys 
himself and waxes fat in insanitary surroundings. 
Precisely the opposite is the case. No one enjoys the 
confidence of the oyster to a greater extent than Prof. 
Herdman, or is better able to appreciate his innermost 
sentiments ; and we gather from Prof. Herdman’s recent 
' work that the oyster—especially the British-born-and- 
bred oyster—is, in reality, a cleanly, self-respecting 
mollusc, with an appetite not less dainty or fastidious 
than that of the epicure for whose gustatory pleasure he 
