Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1881-12-02
About snaIls.

The great vine snail (helix pomatia)
has quito q history, and Its lease of life
should be long one, IL that may be
measured by the powers of endurance.
In 1774 tho members of the Royal
Society in England could not be brought
to believe an Irish collector, who
had been confined in his cabinet for tif-
teen years came out Of their shells upon
his sons putting them in warm water;
but the possibility Of the thing was
proved in 1850, when, after four years
somnolence in the British Museum, an
Egyptian desert snail woke up, none
the worse for its long rest and absti-
nence. 1t fed heartily upon lettuce
leaves, and lived for two years longer.
Spallanzain asserted he had often be.
headed snails without killing them, and
that in a few months they were as lively
as ever, having grown new heads in re.
tirement.
Snail eating has been in vogue for
many centuries, and was considered by
the ancient Romans one of their table
luxuries. In Pliny's time Barbary
snails stood first in repute, those in
Sicily ranking next; and it was the Gus.
tom TO fatten them for the table by
dieting them upon meal and new wine.
In modern Rome fresh gathered snails
are hawked by women from door to
door, who boil them in their shells,
stew them, or fry them in oil. Snails
are gathered of the vines by the peas
antry in the wine district of France, and
are sent up in cases and wicker bas-
kets to Paris where they are sold by
auction, and are purchased by people
who make it their business to prepare
them for the restaurants and charcu-
tiers. They are killed by being placed
in scalding water, and after being re-
moved from their shells by the aid of a
piece of wire, are thrown into an i'm
mense copper and boiled for three-quar-
ters of an hour in mixture composed of
water, vinegar, salt and herbs. They
are then replaced in their shells, the
mouths of which are closed with butter
and parsley, and are ready for sale. To
prepare them for the table, it suilices
to place them in the frying-pan for a
few minutes with small piece of but
ter, and without removing them from
their shells. They are sold at the wine
shops and charcutiers at thirty and
forty centimes the dozen. ,....
a century ago some 10000 oi
snails were annually exported from
Ulm in "cags" of 10000, fetching from
thirty-five to forty florins ..cag." In
the Tyrol youngsters OF both sexes are
employed during the summer months
collecting snails as stock for small gar.
dens-small plats of land cleared OF
trees and covered with heaps of moss
and pine twigs, and separated from
each other by moats, having gratings
at their outlets to prevent any truants
that may get into the water from being
carried beyond bounds. The prisoners
are supplied daily with fresh grass and
cabbage leaves until their appetites fail
and they retire into the moss heaps foI
their winter sleep-the last one they
will enjoy; for when spring comes they
are routed out of their beds, packed in
straw-Ened boxes, and sent on to mar.
ket. Ina favorable season one of these
gardens will turn out 40, 900 snails. The
consumption of them in the South Tyro
must be great. Snails are often used
boiled in milk for diseases of the lungs
and are sent to this country as deli
eacy; they are very indiscriminate il
their appetite, and even devour the
dead of their own kind. Snails deligh
in warm moist weather; in dry weather
their chief time of activity is during
the night, and they hide themselves by
day; but after rain they come forth a
any hour in quest of food. At the ap
proach of winter, or in very dry wealth
er, they close the mouth of the shell
with membrane formed by the dryin.
of the mucous substance which they Sc
crete, and become inactive and torpid
Snails are hermaphrodite, but mutua
impregnation takes place.-Troy (N
~ Times.