The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1881-06-10
THE COLUMBIAN, VOL. XIV. NO. 2S
DEMOCRAT, Vol. XLvI. NO. Il
Anatomy of an oyster.

Every oyster has a mouth, heart n
liver, stomach, cunningly devised in
testines and other necessary organs, just
as all living moving and intelligent
creatures have. And all these things
are covered from mans rudely inquisitive
gaze by mantle of pearly gauze, whose
woof and warp put to shame the frost
lace on your windows in winter. The
mouth is at the smaller end of the oys
ter, adjoining the hinge. 1t is of oval
shape, and though not readily seen by
an Impractical eye, its location and size
can be easily discovered by gently push
ing blunt bodkin or similar instrument
along the surface of the locality men
toned. When the spot is found your
bodkin can be thrust between the deli
cate lips and considerable distance
down towards the stomach without caus-
ing the oyster TO yell with pain. From
this mouth is, of course, a sort of canal
to convey food to the stomach, whence
it passes into the intestines. With an
exceedingly delicate and sharp knife you
can take off the mantle" of the oyster,
where there will be disclosed to you a
half moon shaped space just above the
muscle or so called ''heart." This space
is the oysters pcrcardium, and within it
is the real heart. This heart is made up
of two parts, Just as the human heart is,
one of which receives the blood from the
gills through q net work of blood vessels
and the other drives the blood out
through arteries. In this important mat
ter the oyster differs in no respect from
the other warm or cold blooded animals.
And no one need laugh incredulously at
the assertion that oysters have blood.
1t is not ruddy, according to the accept
ed notion about blood, but it is neverthc
less blood to all oyster intents and pur
poses. In the same vicinity, and in mar
velousl ly proper positions, will be found
all the other organs named. But il is
very proper to be incredulous about that
mouth and organs. AT first glance it
would seem that they are utterly useless,
for the mouth cannot snap around Tor
food, and the oyster has no arms where
with to grab its dinner or lunch. True,
apparently, for each oyster has 1000
arms, tiny, delicate, almost invisible.
| And each one of them is necessarily at
work gathering up food and gently
pushing it into the lazy mouth of the in
dolcntly comfortable creature. The gills
are the thin flaps so noticeably percepti
bile ound the front face part of the un-
dressed oyster, below the muscle Each
of these gills is covered with minute,
hair-like arms, very close together, and
perpetualy in motion to and fro in the
same unwearied direction They catch
food from the water, strain it carefully OF
improper substances, and watt it upward
over the mantles smooth surface to the
gaping mouth, which placdly gathers it
up until hunger is appeased and then the
body goes to sleep without turning over.
Any one can observe this singular pro-
cess of feeding by placing minute
quantity of some harmless coloring mat
ter on the glls. If it will not offend the
oysters delicate palate the coloring will
be seen at once propelled by invisible
hands towards the mouth, and thence
slowly down into the stomach. And
that is all | know about oyster anato
my, except that the liver almost entirely
surrounds the stomach and is of dark
green color. 1t may be new, however
to many to know that oysters are born
precisely the same way the shad and
other fish come into the world. A well
educated lady oyster will lay about l25;
100000 eggs-so it is said; have not
counted enough of them to strike such {
large average-and every one of these
eggs will ultimately become fit for stew
or fry if they escape the multitude o.
perils that do environ the infant oyster