Some time ago, writes a correspondent, I happened to visit a beautifully kept old-world garden not far from Dublin. The place was surrounded by high walls, which shut out all noise, and when I made some remark to the gardener about the peaceful atmosphere in which he worked, he assured me that there were times when it was so quiet that he could hear the snails eating. I was inclined to take this statement with the proverbial "grain of salt" - usually so fatal to snails - but I have since learned that there is scientific authority for it. On the large snail farms in the Swiss Canton of Zurich, where edible snails are fattened for the market, the sound made by the jaws of the animals when they are feeding can be distinctly heard. It would probably require a keen ear to catch the sound made by the common garden snail, but when it is borne in mind that he possesses no less than 14,175 teeth, he can hardly avoid making a certain amount of noise with them.
In these islands the prejudice against eating snails remains. Probably most of those who appreciate the excellent flavour of the Dartmoor and Southdown mutton in England are unaware that it has been attributed to the snails, which the sheep cannot avoid devouring when cropping the herbage.
The Irish Times, February 14th, 1931