Indirect and Direct Benefits. 41 



ticular, they act more beneficially than quicklime. * And in 

 China, India, Ceylon, and Africa, where there is no stone 

 fitted for burning into lime, and where shells are abundant, 

 these are resorted to, and the lime procured from them is said 

 to be peculiarly white and pure f : so much so, that the people, 

 and even the ladies in India, to increase the pungency, mix it 

 with their betel leaf and areka nut, which they chew as our 

 sailors do tobacco. J 



I now proceed to illustrate the modes in which molluscous 

 animals contribute more directly to our w^ants and luxuries ; 

 and I shall occupy the remainder of this letter with an account 

 of such of them as man has added to his long dietetical list, 

 for liberally has he availed himself of the license, " every 

 moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you." The princi- 

 pal of these is the oyster, " the food that feeds, the living 

 luxury," as it is described by a living poet of celebrity, though 

 there are some who, like the great Mr. Boyle, abhor the eat- 

 ing of them raw, and, with another poet, are ready to exclaim, 



" That man had sure a palate cover'd o'er 

 With brass or steel, that, on the rocky shore. 

 First broke the oozy oyster's pearly coat. 

 And risk'd the living morsel down his throat ! " 



But, be that as it may, oysters are in general much esteemed, 

 and have, for many centuries, held an eminent place amongst 

 the delicacies of the table. The Romans, when luxury had 

 ousted the temperance of their earlier days, preferred them to 

 all others. " Nee potest videri satisdictum esse de his, cum 

 palma mensarum divitum attribuatur illis," are the words of 

 Pliny. § They sometimes brought them so far as from Bri- 

 tain ; but those most celebrated for their sweetness and tender- 

 ness were from Cyzicus, a town of Mysia, situate in a cogno- 

 minal island of the Propontis. You will also remember that 

 those which came from theLucrine Lake and from Brundusium 

 had no vulgar fame, being occasionally adverted to by their 

 poets and satirists. It was even a grave matter of dispute to 

 which of these the preference was due ; and to settle the point, 

 or with a view, perhaps, of combining the good qualities of 

 both, oysters were wont to be carried from Brundusium, and 

 fed for a time in the Lucrine Lake. 



* Thomson's Hist, of the Royal Society, p. Q6. 



^ " At Columbo, in Ceylon, the Dutch had the walls of their houses all 

 plastered over and whitewashed with a very fine bright lime, made of burnt 

 shells. The colour is heauttfully whiter and may contribute to the coolness 

 of the houses, but throws an unsupportable glare in the eyes of the passenger, 

 along the streets." {PerdvaVs Ceylon^ p. 126.) 



X See the Travels of Staunton, Buchanan, and Barrow. 



§ Hist. Nat., lib. xxxii. cap 6. . 



