The Abbeville banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1847-1869, 1857-04-23
SOMETHING ABOUT OYSTERS.

styled fossilferous rocks "nionuments of
the felicity of past ages" An undisturhotl
oyster bed is concentration of happiness
in the present. Dormant though the sew
eral creatures there congregateI seem, each
individual is leading the beatificd existence
of an Epicurcan god. The world without,
its cares and joys, its storms and c,lms, its
passions, evil and good-all are Indifferent
to the unhceding oyster. Unobscrvant even
Of what passes in its immediate vicinity, its
whole soul is concentrated in itself, vet not
sluggisl'ly and alphabetically, for its body is
u.robhing with life and enjoyment. The
mighty ocean is subscrvient to its pleasures.
The rolling waves watt fresh and choice
food within its reach, and the flow Of the
current feeds it without requiring an effort.
Each atom of water that comes in contact
with its delicate gils evolves its imprisoned
air, to freslIen and invigoratc the creatures
pellucid blood.
Invisible to human eye, unless aided by
the wonderful inventions of human science.
countless millions of vibrating ella are
moving incessantly with syncl,ronic beat on
every fibre Of each fringing leaflet. We'll
might old Leuwenhook exclaim, when he
looked through his microscope at the beard
OF shell-fish, "Thc motion I saw in the
small component parts of it was so incrcdi
bly, great that could not be satisfied with
tho spectacle; and it is not in the mind Of
man to conceive all the motions which I
be1c'd within the compass of grain of
sand" And yet the Dutch naturalist, un-
aided by tho finer instruments Of our time,
beheld but dim and misty indication of
the exquisite ciliary apparatus by which
these motions are effected. How strange
to reflect that all this elaborate and mimi
table contrivance has been devised for the
wcll-being Of dcspiscd shell fish Nor is
it merely in the working members of tic
creature that We find its wonders comprised.
There are portions Of its frame WHICH seem
to serve no essential purpose in its economy,
which might be omitted without disturbing
the course of its daily duties, and vet so
constant in their presence and position that
we cannot doubt their having had their
places in TIC original plan according to
Which the organization of the mollusE was
put together. These are symbols of organs
to be developed in creatures higher in the
scale of being-antitypes, it may be, of
limbs, and anticipations Of undcvcloped
senses. These are the first draughts of
parts to be made out in their details else
where, serving, however, an end by their
presence, for they are badges of relationship
and affinity between one creature and an
other. In them the oyster Gator and the
oyster may find some common bond of SYM
pathy and distant cousinhood. Had the
dsputations and needle-witted schoolmep
known of these mysteries of vitality, how
vainly subtle would have been their specu.
lations concerning the solution of such enig.
mas.
But tho life Of sl,ell-fsh is not one of
unvarying rest. Observe the phases of an
individual oyster from the moment of its
earliest embryo-life, Independent of mater
nal ties, to the consummation of its destiny,
when the knife Of fate shall sever its mus
cular cords and doom it to entombment in
living sepulchre. How starts it forth into
the world Of waters? Not, as unenlight-
ened people believe, in the shape of min
ute, bivalved, protected, grave, fixed, and
steady oysterling. No; it enters upon its
career all life and motion, fitting about in
the sea as gayly and lightly rs a butterfly
or swallow skins through the air. It's
first appearance is as microscopic oyster
cherub, with wing-like lobes thanking a
mouth and shoulders, unincumbercd with
inferior crural pro1ongations. It passes
through a joyous and vivacious juvinility,
skipping up and down as if in mockery of
its heavy and immovabIo parents. 1t voy-
ages from bed to bed, and, If in luck, so as
to escape the watcl,ful voracity of the thou
sand enemies that lie in wait or prowl about
to prey upon youth and inexperience, at
length, having sown It's wild oats, settles
down into a steady, solid, domestic oyster.
1t becomes the parent of fresh broods of
oyster r-cheubs. As such It would live and
die, leaving its shell, tl,ickened through old
age, to serve as it's monument throughout
all time-s contribution towards the con-
struction Of freshh, geological epoch and a
new layer Of the earth's crust-were It not
for tie glattony of man, who, rending this
sober citizen of the sea from his native bed,
carries him unresisting to busy cities and
The hum Of crowds. IF a handsome, WELL
shaped and well.aavored oyster, ho ia intro;
duced to the palaces of the rich and noble,
like a wit, or a philosophers, or poet, TO
give additional relish to their sumptuot,s
feasts; il sturdy, thick-backed. strone-
tasted individual, fate consigns, him Is lie
cat,aei0lla iuh of tI,a al ,,onf -,