Note 9 — Chapter II
Reading edition
This fact is also stated by Bingley, Animal Biography, vol. iii. p. 454, and is now turned to practical account in the so-called 'Oyster-schools' of France. The distance from the coast to Paris being too great for the newly dredged oysters to travel without opening their shells, they are first taught in the schools to bear a longer and longer exposure to the air without gaping, and when their education in this respect is completed they are sent on their journey to the metropolis, where they arrive with closed shells, and in a healthy condition.