BIVALVE MOLLUSCA. 385 
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 fast triturate 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 Ratzeburg, 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 Voltaire. ‘Can 
we suppose any such impossible contradiction in Nature?” 
There is consolation, however, for all concerned. Let the 
humanitarian 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 dis- 
cernible. 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 organisation ; 
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 his scientific skill in 
observing them, he swallowed them ; the interesting bivalves had lost 
nothing of their excellence, and the examination did not prejudice 
their flavour. 
Oyster fishing is pursued in a very different manner in different 
countries. Round Minorca, divers, with hammers attached to the 
right hand, descend to the depth of a dozen fathoms, and bring up in 
their left hand as many of the bivalves as they can carry, two fisher- 
men, usually associating for the purpose, diving alternately until the 
boat is filled. On the English and French coasts the dredge is 
employed, as represented in PLatE XVI. This operation is also 
necessary to keep down the marine vegetation, which would stifle the 
oysters ; the engine is of iron, and is very heavy. It is thrown over- 
board, and descends to the bottom of the sea, which it Pe and 
