Oysters, and All About Them. By John R. Philpots. 2
vols. (Richardson and Co.)—These two volumes, containing together between thirteen and fourteen hundred pages, should indeed con- tain "all about oysters." Nothing could be more complete than the treatise which Mr. Philpots has produced. The habits and history of the English oyster and all his foreign rivals are ex- haustively treated. The misfortune is, that all this learning is of little practical avail. Thirty years ago oysters were sixpence per dozen ; now the price has risen to half-a-crown. Any one who could restore the old cheapness would indeed be a public benefactor. But just as in medicine the history of disease is traced with unerring precision, while the cure of it is slow and uncertain, so it is in ostreology. We know why the creaturea have become scarce, but as to making them plentiful again, that is beyond our ken.
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