MARINE BIOLOGICAL STATION AT PORT ERIN. 1038 
formed, and (2) an Oyster Bill has been laid before 
Parliament and referred to a Select Committee of the House 
of Lords. The Bill, although capable of improvement in 
some details, does much to meet the present difficulties; 
if, however, the Oyster Association takes a sufficiently 
high view of its responsibilities and duties, the provisions 
of the Bill may become unnecessary. 
I may, finally, give here a few sentences of the practical 
conclusions at which Prof. Boyce and I have arrived as 
the result of the bacteriological work :— 
“Tt is evident from the result of these experiments, and 
a consideration of all the facts brought to light in recent 
years in regard to the bacteriology of shell-fish and its 
influence on public health, that we must regard oysters, 
mussels, cockles, and the like as nutritious food matters 
which, from their nature and the circumstances of their 
cultivation and sale, are hable to become contaminated 
with organisms—pathogenic or otherwise—and their 
deleterious products. 
“Once this is recognised, the practical applications are 
largely a matter of common sense. Shell-fish must not be 
taken as food from grounds where there is any possibility 
of sewage contamination; after removal from the sea, 
while in transit, in store, or in market, they should be 
carefully protected from any possibility of insanitary 
environment; they should not be kept longer than is 
absolutely necessary in shops, cellars, &c., in towns, 
where, even if not running the risk of fresh contami- 
nation, they are under conditions favourable to the 
reduction of their vitality, and the growth of their 
bacterial contents—the fresher they are from the sea 
the more healthy they are likely to be. TF inally, only 
absolutely fresh shell-fish should be eaten uncooked, and 
