Daily Davenport gazette. [volume] (Davenport, Iowa) 1854-1855, 1854-12-04
An xxperiment.

The editor OF the Evansville JournaIne near.
ing Of the alleged poisonous character q
oysters this season, hereicaiiy resoivsdto
sacrifice himself for the health OF the COM
munity, and test IN his own person. the &C.
leterous effects Of the noxlous food, and set
tie. once for all, whether they were poison
Gus or not. He relates the experiment with
thrilling circumstantialty. Like the French
Doctor, who being attack by fatal cpl
demic, noted aud wrote down the progress
Of the disease, as he was dying, for the in
struction ofthe profession, this philanthrop-
ic Eyansvillian records the step in his ex-
seriment for the good Of shigh-ieedeEs' and
restaurant ksspers:- Chicago jour.
AZ the people Of Re great West are re-
ceivng oysters by the ton, and especially
a. Evansville appear to have IN unusual
share OF the commodity, we have been care
fully carrying on private examinations, 70
ascertain II We could discover any poison
Gus qualities in oysters brought to this city,
50 that we might at once sound the alarm
to the ears and stomachs OF our fellow-cit-
xens. We commenced these experiments
with great deal of caution, and in very
limited wav, so that il the escusent vegeta-
Bile should prove poisonous the attack might
not prove entirely fatal, otherwise we could
not Be- expected to live and sound the alarm
We procured half can of the first arrival.
When opened, the suspicious critters had \
crcam.whi,e appearance and seemed fat and
hearty. We ordered one-thrd stewed, say
about two dozen. They tasted natural, in
fact very grateful to the palate. Pulse 81
beats to the minute. gam OF one, and
very slight sensation only of iullness OF the
notwithstanding easy asyet, and sen.
sation OF exhilaration in the system and
kind Of cr.v,ng flood.
After the examination. cook brought in
the next two dozen fried in corn meal, with
slight touch of shadowing Of eggs thereon.
These filed quite large platter, and We
though, certain we should be able to ex-
tract some poiscns from that quantity Of x-
psrimental matter. Taste very pleasant
again-in fact more palatable than in the
stewed condition. Time Of destruction.
fifteen and half minutes pulse 81, gain
OF six--sensaton OF fullncss about the stom-
ach decidedly more apparent-breathing
somewhat impeded-but the craving 80 re-
marked before very much diminished. Nc
tced the thermometer, thinking the heat
Of the room increased, but estonshed
to find it two degrees cooler than at the
start.
Thinking tha. probably the process Of
applying heat to the yegel ahles had killed
the poison, we ordered the remainder OF the
can, two dozen large to be brought raw.
They also filled quite large plate, and had
! plump fair appearance. We smeared
them over slightly with mustard, fresh nit
ID, and then sprinkled them with black
pepper, followed that with touch Of vine
gar, and lastly covered them with small
quantity of fresh sweet oil. We knew
these concomitants would develope the
poison, if any could do so. The first ap-
,lica,ion illustrated the sliding scale IN
manner. Each oyster appear
ID to have we'll creased wheels, while our
throat was railroad track laid with I rails.
As We approached the;last oyster, the mere
sensations before mentioned
seemed increased. Pulse marked 81, and
three oysters left; quite an oppression OF
the stomach, and breathing decidedly more
difficult, with an indisposition to make any
exertion. Craving for food all gone and
eyes drowsy. The remaining three went
wiy-oysters falling and pulse rising
Leaned back in somewhat exhausted con-
d;.ion, with an indistinct perception that
the oysters must have been poisonous. Or
dered pen, ink and paper in haste, to give
last impressions, and ho'dup to the oyster
eating world terrible warning. Eyes
closed over the paper. head sunk on the
white sheet, and we slept-the sleep OF an
anaconda after swallowing bull, horns,
hide and all. Awakened refreshed
and feeling better. Decided that those
oysters were not poisonous, and felt per-
fectly willing TO continue experiments.