Sunday dispatch. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1845-1854, 1852-04-11
CURRENT LITERATURE.

editor, W. L. Hickson having retired
Under its new directors, it will steadily and
unfinchingly advocate those necessary re-
forms which have made it as radical think
.r so distinguished in the literary world.
Its contents may be enumerated as follows
&c Representative Reform" "Shell Fish;
their Ways and Works y {" The Relations
between Employers and Employed" " Mary
STUART The Latest Continental Theory
Of Legislation" "Julia Won Rudener, ss
Coquette and Mystic" ''The Ethics Of
ChristendOm," d" g Political Questions and par
ties in France q Contemporary Literature
of England" Retrospective Survey Of
American Literature" and & Contemporary
Literature of America" are papers which
should be generally read on this side Of the
Atlantic; Contemporary Literature Of
Germany and Contemporary Literature
Of France" From the amusing paper enti-
tied '' Shell Fish, and their Ways" we ex-
tract the following;
THE OYSTER.
Look at an oyster In what light does the
world in general-nOt your Euneducated, st0lid
world merely, but your refined, intellectual, cal-
tivatcd, classical world-regard it Simply as
a delicacy-as good to eat The most devoted
OF oyster eaters opens the creatures shell solely
to swallow the includrd delicious morsel, with
out contemplation or consideration. He uses it
as candidate for orders does article of faith;
he bolts it whole and without question. He
relishes with undisguised gltsto, the good living
that lies embodied in a barrel of Colchester ma
tives He gratifes his palate, and satisfies a
craving stomach. He takes neither note or no.
tice Of the curious intrcacies Of its organization;
he neither knows nor cares about its wisely con-
trived network OF nerves and blood vessels. He
clips its beard, that wondrous membrane of
strange and curious mechanism by which the
creature breathes, as thoughtlessly as he would
shave his own. He gulps down its luscious sub
stance unmindful that he is deyouring body
and organs, which all the science Of man can
only diesect and destroy, without hope Of being
able either to recompose or reanimate. More
over, we're Cuvier, or Owen, or any other philos-
opher deeply versed in the mysteries Of the mo-
lussous microcosm, to demonstrate for q moment
against the cannibal act of one soft body swal-
lowing another without understanding, and en-
deavOr to enlighten our ostreOphagist, by discov
ering to him the beauties Of his victim confor-
nation, he would regard the interruption as i'll
timed and impertinent, and hold by his original
intention of boiling his oyster without inquiry
or investigation. The world is mainly made up
Of such ostreophagists. Yet could we persuade
them to hesitate-to listen for FIVE minutes-we
feel sure that they would live and die wiser and
happier men, without the slightest dimunition
Of the keen relish with which, in the days Of
their darkness, they enjoyed their testaceous
prey.
On the other hand regard the mere concholo-
sist. he eviscerates his oysters as earnestly and
gloatingly as the veriest DandO Nay, worse
he rejects, without either inspection or degluti-
tion, the soft and tempting substance, and con-
tents himself with the hard and improbable
she'll. He counts all its little waves and scales
and ribs, without needing whether they ever en-
closed living body. He cares not to know how
they have developed with the creatures growth,
and what were the features of the incipient
germs. His whole ambition is centred in the
wish to possess a fine example of an oyster shell.
He has gained his inglorious aim, and, after one
more gaze at his beautiful treasure, goes to rest
happily for the night, to dream that he is repos-
ing upon an oyster bed, entirely composed Of
choice unchipped specimens, all shells and no in
sides Lucian ridiculed the philosophers who
spent their lives inquiring into the souls of oys-
ters The satirist overshot his mark. Such
wiseacres were respectable when compared with
their brethren, who care for neither an OYSTER
soul nor body, but concentrate their faculties in
the contemplation Of its shell.
THE HARMONY OF INTERESTS, dgricla-
turai, Manufacturing and Commercial
By Henry c. Carey, author of & Principles
Of Political Economy" THE Past, Present
and Future" ETC., etc. Vol l, SvO., PIP.
260. Second Edition; Myron Finch, pub
lisher.-Mr. Henry c. Carey is favorably
known through his works as one of the first
economists in America, and as such is quo
ted by foreign political and statistical theo-
rists. However truthful the conclusions
this gentleman may arrive at in his various
researches as an economist, his mind is per-
haps biased, to a greater or less extent, by
the principles Of the great party to which
he is passionately attached. 1t is not, there
fore, probable that those in opposition to
him in political sentiment will give much
heed to his teachings, nor even think it
worth their while to examine, with any de-
gree of candor, the arguments he adduces
on Protection, or other doctrines sought to
be established as principles in the external,
or internal, policy Of the government. Mr.
Carey has, apart from these considerations,
won undying fame, and we doubt not that
sooner or later his axioms will have their
influence, in proportion to their truthful
ness, in their legislative adaptations to the
future interests of the republic We quote
the following paragraph on the Fictitious
value OF
GOLD AND SILVER.
Ofan the commodities in use by man, there
are none that contribute so little to his comfort
or convenience as gold and silver. They are
useless for the clearing or draining of lands the
building OF houses or mills, or the c0nstruc-
tion ofships or railroads. They can be neither
saten, drunken, nor to any extent worn. Never
tAeless OF all they are the two whose arrival and
departure are most carefully chrOnicled Ten
furnaces and rolling mills, capable Of producing
IN year three millions of dollars worth of iron
may close without producing even passing re-
mark from newspaper, but no vessel can arrive
or depart, with City thousand dollars in gold
without the arrival being noticed in half the pa
pers Of the Union. The factitious Importance
thus given to the precious metals is one eof the ef
feots OF the colonial system, which demands that
all the commodities Of the world shall be brought
to one market, there to be submitted to one
standard. Its effects at home have heen to make
every man seller OF almost all he produces, and
and buyer Of almost all he consumes ssIn our
social system" says the accomplished traveller,
Mr.. Balng, "every man buys all he sells and
sells all he produces. The very bread of our la
borers, he continues, sis often bought at the
manufacturers shop" The system has convert
cd large portion of the little occupants into
hired laborers, receiving from six to nine shil-
hngs week, and occupying poor houses in poor
villages, where they are compelled to waste much
Time that would, under different one, be en-
ployed with infinite advantage to themselves and
otneTs- The man who exchanges directly with
ms neighbor food and labor for coal or iron, has
ii.te need Of money. He exchanges labor for
labor, and if the account do not last itself, it
Is frequently balanced by the transfer OF the diff
ference to the credit of another and thus there
established IN every community in which men
combine their exertions, sort Of c5eayigsg house.
Quite as eectlve IN its operations as the celebra
ted one OF London. The man who sends hiscot-
ton to Liverpool or Lowell, trades altogether for
money. lie desires to know how much gold he
can have for bale, and how much iron he can
nave for pound Of gold. He uses maobinerv
With which the others can dispense Whatever
TENDS to increase the quantity of machinery re-
CURED for the accomplishment of q given sffeot
tends to increase the friction ana augment tbe
power required for its accomplishment Such
isthe case here. Tho necessity for using gold
tends TO introduce new and powerful cause of
disturbance in the operations Of the planter. and
greatly 10 augment the cost Of them thus in
creasing the friction and diminishing tho effect
Gold and silver are reduced in weight bv abra.
non, and for all this loss the producer and con-
SSiHlHer pay. The ezchanger pays nothing. He
lives az their cost.
PUTNAM's SE01I-MoNTHLY LIBRARY
We have received from G.. P. Putnam, the
following works, which constitute the first
ak issues Of the Library for Travellers
and the Fireside." The volumes are bound
in paper, and are placed at the exceedingly
low price Of twenty-five cents each When
nc consider the superior character of the
works already published, We cannot but re-
commend the public to combine the Putnam
with the Appleton Library It isnot proba-
BILE they will ever. cross each other in their
reprints. The titles. Of those already pub
iished by Putnam are, 1st, Home and So
sial Philosophy" from Household Words,
edited by Charles Dickens, I'd, " Whimsi-
ealities'" by Thomas Hood, illustrated with
wOOd-euts. .--NO.One will ne are sure be,,with-