THE OYSTER AND THE DOCTOR.
Oyster-eating in Prussia; Disgusting Wagers; Oysters better than Pills;
A Universal Remedy; Professional Opinions; When Ladies should eat them;
Repugnance overcome; Oysters as an external application; Chemical
Analysis; How to tell if dead before opening.
When in Prussia, I once asked a person who did a large retail business
in oysters, what class of persons he found to be his best customers, and
what was the number of oysters daily consumed by each individual?
"The morning scarcely begins to dawn," he replied, "ere ladies and
gentlemen, boys and girls, and servants, both male and female, make
their appearance, not only from my immediate neighbourhood, but also
from the most remote parts of the city, when, on an average, every one
buys from half a dozen up to a dozen, in addition to their purchases for
the several families, and in accordance with their requirements."
And those who do likewise in Great Britain and Ireland will soon find
out the benefit of this nutritive food taken thus early on an empty
stomach. I once heard of an individual who made a bet that he would eat
twelve dozen oysters, washed down by twelve glasses of Champagne, while
the cathedral clock of the city which he inhabited was striking twelve.
He won his bet by placing a dozen fresh oysters in twelve wine glasses,
and having swallowed the oysters, he washed down each dozen with a glass
of Champagne. I should not have mentioned this disgusting feat, but to
add that he felt no evil effects from the oysters, proving incontestably
the digestive and sanitary properties of this mollusk.
There is a similar tale showing equally the effects of oysters on the
human digestion. Four persons met one Saturday night at an hotel, and
made the following bet: each person was to call for whatever he might
fancy, either to eat or to drink, and he who kept longest awake was to
have no share in the liquidation of the bill. This settled, one of the
party made a private arrangement with one of the waiters, promising him
a reward if, in case of his evincing the slightest drowsiness, he would
bring him forthwith twenty-five oysters.
This was accordingly done; but the waiters had to be constantly relieved
until 11 o'clock on the following Monday morning, when, observing his
three companions quietly asleep, our oyster-eating friend called for the
landlord, and declared himself triumphantly the winner, attributing his
good fortune entirely to the oyster.
Wise people eat oysters and eschew pills; take lumps of delight, instead
of lumps of nausea; uphold the Sweetings, Pims, and Lynns, and have
nothing to do with the Holloways, Morisons, and "Old Parrs."
When suffering from almost incurable indigestion, by taking oysters
daily, they very soon find the most agreeable effects on the human
kitchen and laboratory; its functions become regular, without the use of
strong medicines, always dangerous. Depression of spirits and other
disagreeable feelings consequent on impaired digestion soon cease to
affect them; they become cheerful and happy, and are enabled again to
see clearly through the misty atmosphere which has hitherto enclosed
them in a kind of living shroud; physical powers return, headaches
disappear, and the heretofore dyspeptic, sour, unhappy tempered man
becomes a pleasant and joyous companion, full of life himself, and
inspiriting to those around him.
I have lived a good deal abroad, and am induced to ascribe much of the
vivacity of the French to their intense love of oysters. During a long
residence in France, I never met with a Frenchman or Frenchwoman who
said nay to a dish of good fresh oysters; in fact, they have a craving
for the "breedy creatures," which in many persons almost amounts to
gluttony, and then, and then only, does this craving lead to mischief.
Physicians of old recommended the oyster as a general remedy, and
employed it on all occasions with success. It has been proved beyond
dispute that it possesses a remarkable vivifying influence in all cases
where the nervous organs are affected, more than any other food. Oysters
taken before mid-day with a glass of wine produce a most salutary
effect. The nerves and muscles regain their strength, and the body its
mental and physical powers, bringing cheerfulness and energy to compete
with the duties of the day. If not a cure, at all events, an oyster
diet, under medical supervision, brings unquestionable relief to those
who are suffering from pulmonary complaints, indigestion, or nervous
affections.
Dr. Leroy was in the habit of swallowing, every morning before
breakfast, two dozen oysters, and used always to say to his friends,
presenting them with the shells: "There, behold the fountain of my
youthful strength!"
Percy relates having seen a large number of wounded persons, exhausted
by the loss of blood and bad treatment, who were entirely kept up by
eating oysters; and Dr. Lenac considered them the most nourishing food
in existence.
Oysters are strongly recommended to all persons suffering from weak
digestion; and Dr. Pasquier adds, that "they may be given with great
advantage to persons of intemperate habits, who, by inefficacious
medical treatment have fallen into debility and lowness of spirits." He
also recommends oysters to all who are suffering from the gout. I myself
knew a person last winter, who was suffering from influenza, which, from
his being an aged man, threatened the most serious consequences, who was
entirely cured by eating oysters.
Oysters increase the blood without heating the system, and hence when a
wound has caused much loss of blood, the eating of oysters not only
prevents fever, but replaces the loss which no other remedy can effect.
The great Boerhaave affirms to have known a tall, strong man, who had
fallen into a decline, and who, after all other remedies had proved
useless, by the use of oysters rapidly recovered, became strong, and
died ninety-three years old.
But to ladies, particularly, do I recommend oysters as the best of all
light meals between breakfast and dinner. At the period of a lady's
married life, when nausea is prevalent, a few fresh oysters, taken raw
in their own liquor, with no addition but a little pepper, and a fairy
slice of French roll or other light bread, stops the feeling of
sickness, and keeps up the stamina unimpaired. During the time, too,
when a young child most requires maternal care and attention, the
mother's diet of oysters will impart strength to the infant, and tend
much to alleviate the pains of its first teething.
I am well aware that some persons have a repugnance to the eating of
oysters, and that it may be difficult to overcome the dislike. However,
as a proof that oysters in general are nice to the taste, let me mention
that children under two years of age eat them with great appetite; and
it is only after having discontinued eating any for some time that they
take a dislike to them.
I have often had the opportunity of overcoming this dislike, and the
result was always satisfactory. The method is very simple. Take a French
roll (or a piece of milk-bread) thinly buttered, and put on it the
oyster deprived of its beard, squeezing a few drops of lemon and
peppering it. "Well, after all, the taste of the oyster is really fine!"
is the usual exclamation, and after that the person has eaten them in
their natural state with gusto.
When eaten for health, an oyster is best swallowed in its own liquor the
moment the shell is opened; or if too cold for the stomach, a sprinkling
of pepper will remedy the evil. Vinegar counteracts the effect of the
oyster enriching the blood; so when the oyster is eaten medicinally it
must be excluded. Dr. Evans, in No. 834 of the "Family Herald" says,
that when too many oysters or other shell-fish has been taken, the
unpleasant sensation excited by such excess may be removed by drinking
half a pint of hot milk. Persons of delicate constitutions will do well
always to take hot milk after oysters.
But the oyster was also formerly used externally as a remedy no less
than taken internally for its medicinal properties. Its very abundance
is a clear proof of the bounty and goodness of Providence, furnishing
us, at one and the same time, with such delicious food, and so universal
a remedy for the ills which man is heir to. Ambrois Paré, physician to
Charles IX., and the only Protestant whom the king sought to save from
the terrible massacre of St. Bartholomew, by shutting him up in his own
closet, recommends oysters smashed in their shells as an excellent
poultice. "This animal, so used," says he, "diminishes pain, and removes
all heat and inflammation in a remarkable manner." As the opinion of
one, of whom the king himself declared that "a man so useful to all the
world ought not to perish like a dog," it may be admitted to a place in
my little book, more particularly as it is borne out by Paul Egona, who
also recommends oysters being smashed and saturated with their own
liquor as the very best of all poultices for sores or boils.
Let me, as a close to this chapter, add a few words on the chemical
analysis of the oyster. The animal itself contains a great proportion of
phosphate of iron and lime, a considerable quantity of osmozone, and a
certain amount of gluten and isinglass, being of a peculiar nature,
which phosphorus penetrates like an element. It also contains a great
quantity of particles of salt, the same as that of the sea-water in
which it lives.
The oyster-liquor, or, as I have said, more properly speaking, its
life's blood, contains a great amount of hydroidum, kali, sulphur of
lime, sulphur of magnesia, some organic matter, osmazone, and a very
little salt. The shell is composed of a very intimate mixture of salt,
carbonic lime, and animal mucus. It exhibits, also, phosphate of lime
and magnesia in small quantities, as also sulphuretted hydrogen.
At the moment in which natural death ensues, all animal matter begins to
show its chemical affinities by separating again into the elements of
which it consists; and as at such times it is always more or less of a
poisonous nature, it is well to study the method by which it may be
known whether an oyster was living or dead when its shell is opened.
This can be seen at a glance. If the muscle appears sunk, it is a proof
that the animal was living; but if it appears higher and above the
oyster, it was dead before it was opened, and the animal is,
consequently, unwholesome and unfit for food.