The consumption of oysters in London is enormous. During the season of
1848-49, 130,000 bushels of oysters were sold in our metropolis. A
million and a half of these shell-fish are consumed during each season
in Edinburgh, being at the rate of more than 7300 a day. Fifty-two
millions were taken from the French channel banks during the course of
the year 1828; and now the number annually dredged is probably
considerably greater, since the facilities of transport by rail
greatly increase the inland consumption of these as of other marine
luxuries. French naturalists report, that before an oyster is
qualified to appear in Paris, he must undergo a course of education in
discretion; for the artificial oyster-beds on the French coast, where
the animals are stored to be carried away as required, are constructed
between tide-marks; and their denizens, accustomed to pass the greater
part of the twenty-four hours beneath the water, open their valves and
gape when so situated, but close them firmly when they are exposed by
the recession of the tide. Habituated to these alternations of
immersion and exposure, the practice of opening and closing their
valves at regular intervals becomes natural to them, and would be
persisted in to their certain destruction, on their arrival in Paris,
were they not ingeniously trained so as to avert the evil. Each batch
of oysters intended to make the journey to the capital, is subjected
to a preliminary exercise in keeping the shell closed at other hours
than when the tide is out; until at length the shell-fish have learned
by experience that it is necessary to do so whenever they are
uncovered by sea-water. Thus they are enabled to enter the metropolis
of France as polished oysters ought to do, not gaping like astounded
rustics. A London oyster-man can tell the ages of his flock to a
nicety. They are in perfection when from five to seven years old. The
age of an oyster is not to be found out by looking into its mouth; it
bears its years upon its back. Everybody who has handled an