DECEMBER 3, 1896] 
is supposed to live. Indeed, if oysters in general had 
only the locomotive powers of their brethren in the 
classical legend of the Walrus and the Carpenter, there 
is very little doubt that, in many cases, they would 
quickly move off in search of quarters more salu- 
brious than those in which they are often compelled to 
exist. 
It is not easy to indicate how the present condition of 
things may best be remedied. Oysters, of course, are 
not a necessity, unless to the hardly-driven brain worker, 
to persons of feeble digestion, or to convalescents. 
Unless something is done, therefore, to reassure the 
public mind—either by the collective action of the oyster 
breeders themselves, or by systematic inspection on the 
part of the State—the future of the industry will be 
seriously jeopardised. As it is, the “scare” has done 
very great damage to the trade, and the good and the 
bad alike have indiscriminately suffered. To the states- 
man who is concerned with the welfare of a littoral 
population from which the fersore/ of our navy and coast 
defences is largely recruited, the problem has even a 
wider and deeper significance. On every ground, there- 
fore, the question calls for prompt remedial action. 
At the conclusion of his report Dr. Bulstrode makes | 
some reference to “ green-bearded” or “ green-finned ” 
oysters. These oysters find but little favour in this 
country, although, as is well-known, they are much 
appreciated in France, and the “huitres vertes” or 
“huitres de Marennes” obtain a far higher price in the 
Paris market than the “huitres blanches.” This green 
colour, which is met with to a small extent in certain 
Essex oysters, has been the subject of repeated investi- 
gation during the last seventy years, notably by Gaillon 
(1820), Valenciennes (1841), and Puségur and Decaisne 
(1877). The last-named observers found that the green 
tint was due to the inclusion of a diatom—Mavicula 
ostrearvia, oY, as it is now called, WV. fuszformis, taken up 
from the ‘“claires” in which the oysters are confined. 
These observations were confirmed and extended, in 1885, 
by Prof. Ray Lankester, who showed that a blue pigment, 
which he termed “Marennin” occurs in the Wavicula, 
and is either “uniformly diffused throughout the cell 
protoplasm,” or “confined to the ends of the elongated 
cell body ” (Bulstrode). In the oyster the green colouring 
matter is localised on the surface of the gills and labial 
palps in 
epithelium.” It is the deposition of this blue pigment 
(Marennin) in the yellowish brown gills which, according 
to Prof. Lankester, gives rise to the green appearance of 
the “huitres de Marennes.” 
It has been often alleged that this greenness is due to 
copper, and as a matter of fact copper has frequently 
been detected in oysters since Bizio, in 1835, first dis- 
covered it in the organic substance of the mollusc. Dr. 
Bulstrode, from time to time, sent the writer of this 
notice oysters from different localities, and copper was 
uniformly found in them, although in the Marennes 
oysters it was present in minute amount only—far 
less, indeed, than in certain oysters of a normal colour. 
But there is no question that the greenness of certain 
oysters, especially of those found in Falmouth and 
Truro waters, is due to copper. The colour, both in 
character and distribution, is, however, quite different 
from that of the Marennes oyster. The green Cornish 
oyster is unsaleable in this country—at least for immediate 
consumption—as it leaves a distinct metallic taste in the 
mouth, similar, it is said, to that due to “sucking 
a penny.” Dr. Bulstrode caused a number of such 
oysters to be sent to me at different times. On incinera- 
tion under conditions which precluded the possibility of | 
the introduction of copper, there was no difficulty in 
detecting the presence of that metal in the ash. Indeed, 
» here and there in the ash were particles of Alexandrine 
NO. 1414, VOL. 55] 
NATURE 
“certain peculiar cells of the superficial j 
107 
or Egyptian blue, which, as Davy found long ago, is a /r7¢, 
made by heating together soda, lime, sand, and copper. 
The amount of copper, on the average, was not more 
than about o’02 grain per oyster, but as it is obviously 
caused by the mechanical retention of cupriferous par- 
ticles, individual oysters might, and indeed did, contain 
large quantities. On examining the mud of the locality 
in which such green oysters occur, it was found to contain 
0-148 per cent. of copper. On relaying, the green Cornish 
oyster gradually loses its colour, and also its metallic 
taste ; specimens of such relaid oysters were found to 
contain only o’0060 grains of copper per oyster, which is 
practically the same (viz. 0.062 grain), as that found in 
Whitstable oysters which had never been green. This 
amount would seem, therefore, to be normal to the oyster, 
and to be probably due to the presence of hamocyanin,. 
first found by Fredericq in the blood of the octopus, and 
since shown to be present also in many mollusca. 
T. E. THORPE. 
NOTES. 
For the last three or four years we have been treated, in the 
copy of the 7zies appearing after the Anniversary Meeting of 
the Royal Society, to strictures of the action of the Council of 
that body. We have not thought it necessary to reply to these 
at length, because their origin was pretty well known, and the 
Royal Society is quite capable of taking care of itself. But this 
year we think the bounds of journalistic decorum have been 
passed in a leading article in which the regretted retirement 
of Lord Rayleigh from the Secretaryship is referred to. The 
Times states: ‘‘He has taken, . . . the unusual step of de- 
clining to sit on the Council, and no one who knows the play 
of forces within the Society can doubt that his refusal is signi- 
ficant.” This sentence is obviously intended to suggest that 
Lord Rayleigh’s resignation of the position which he has so long 
adorned, and in which his services have been so greatly valued, 
is due to a want of sympathy with his colleagues or to a want of 
respect for them. Lord Rayleigh is absent from England, but 
we believe that we know enough of the Royal Society and of 
Lord Rayleigh to warrant us in repelling at once, and, in his 
absence, the insinuation as unfounded, and as quite unworthy 
of the journal in which it has been allowed to appear. 
Ar the Royal Society’s meeting, last week, the following were 
elected Foreign Members of the Society :—Prof. Albert Heim, 
of Ziirich, geologist ; Prof. Gabriel Lippmann, of Paris, physicist ; 
Prof. Gésta Mittag-Leffler, of Stockholm, mathematician ; and 
Prof. Giovanni Schiaparelli, Director of the Royal Astronomical 
Observatory of Brera, Milan. 
WE announced some time ago the lamentable death of M. 
Tisserand, the distinguished Director of the Paris Observatory. 
The French Government, according to the invariable rule, at 
once applied to the Academy of Sciences, to nominate two 
men whom they considered qualified to succeed him. They 
selected M. Loewy and M. Callandreau, the first place being 
given to M. Loewy, a fully-trained astronomer, who has 
made his reputation along many lines of research, and who 
has for many years belonged to the staff of the Observatory. 
We learn that the Government has accepted this nomination, 
and that M. Loewy has been appointed Director in succession 
to M. Tisserand. 
Lorp RAYLEIGH and Prof. Ramsay have been elected Corre- 
| sponding Members of the Berlin Academy of Sciences. 
