said
Dora ; " the man told me they are very good." " But, I,—I'm afraid
there's something the matter with them! they don't seem right." (Here
Dora shook her head, and diamond tears twinkled in her eyes). " They're
only opened in both shells," said I; " take the top one off, my love !
" " But it won't come off," said Dora, trying very hard, and looking
much distressed. " Do you know, Copperfield," said Traddles, cheerfully
examining the dish, " I think it is in consequence,—they are capital
oysters,—but I think it is in consequence of their never having been
opened." " They never had been opened ; and we had no oyster-knife ;
and couldn't have used one if we had ; so we looked at the oysters, and
ate the mutton : at least we ate as much of it as was done, and made up
with capers."
In the Encyclopedia of
Bartholomew Anglicus—1250 —it is curiously related that " The crab is
enemy to the oyster. For he liveth by fish thereof, with a wonderful
wit. For, because that he may not open the hard shell of the oyster, he
spieth, and awaiteth when the oyster openeth ; and then the crab that
lieth in await, taketh a little stone, and putteth it between the
shells, that the oyster may not close himself. And when the closing is
so let, the crab eateth and gnaweth the flesh of the oyster."
"
Plant industry " has shown that water containing the germs of cholera,
and typhoid, may be safely drunk after it has stood for eight hours in
a clean Copper vessel. " Thus," writes another doctor, relevant to this
subject, " the Copper canteen, or water-cart, may furnish in the future
all the protection needed from the deadliest scourge of war ; and the
sources of death in many a tropic station may be cleansed of their
malignancy by
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