The daily Minnesota pioneer. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1854-1855, 1854-12-25
DAILY PIONEER.
An Experiment.


ing of the alleged poisonous character of
oysters, this season, heroically resolved to
sacrifice himself for the health of the COM
munity, and test in his own person, the de-
leteriOus effects of the noXiOus food, and
settle, once for all, whether they were pois-
OnOus or not. He relates the experiment
with thrilling crcumstantiality. Like the
French Doctor, who, being attacked by a
fatal epidemic, noted and wrote down the
progress of the disease as he was dying,
for the instruction of the profession, this
philahthropic Evansvillian records the steps
in his experiment, for the good Of 'high-
feeders" and restaurant keepers:
As the people of the West arc receiving
oysters by the ton, and especially at Evans
vile appears to have an unusual share of the
commodity, we have been carefully carrying
on private examinations, to ascertain if we
could discover any poisonous qualities in
oysters brought to this city, so that We
might at once sound the alarm to the ears,
or to the stomacls of our fellOw-citiZens, we
commenced these eXpericnts with great
deal of caution, and in very limited way,
SO that if the esculent vegetable should
prove poisonous, the attack might not prove
entirely fatal, otherwise we could not be eX
pected to live and sound the alarm. We
procured half can of the first arrival
When opened, the suspicious "critters" had
q cream white appearance, and seemed fat
and hearty. We ordered one-third stewed
say about two dozen. They tasted natural,
in fact very grateful to the palate. In five
minutes they had disappeared. Pulse, 81
beats to the minute, gain of one, and
very slight sensation only, of fullncss about
the stomach; breathing easy as yet, and
sensation of exhilaratiOn in the system, and
kind of craving for food.
After this examination, cook brought in
the next two dozen fried in corn r:eal, with
a slight touch or shadowing OF eggs there
on.
These filled quite large platter, and we
thought certainly we should be able to ex-
tract something poisonous from that guam
tity of experimental matter. Taste very
pleasant again-in fact more palatable than
in the stewcd condition. Time of destruc-
ton, fifteen and half minutes, pulse 81,
gain of siX-sensatiOn of fullnesS about the
stomach decidedly more apperent
ing somewhat impeded-but the craving so
remarked before very much diminished
Noticed the thermometer, thinking the heat
of the room increased but astOnished to find
it two degrees cooler than ut the start.
Thinking that probably the process of APP
plying heat to the vegetables had killed the
poison, We ordered the remainder of the can
two dozen large, to be brought raw. They
also filed quite large plate, and had a
plump fair appearance. We smeared them
Slightly with mustard, freshly mixed, and
then sprinkled them with black pepper, fol-
lowed that with touch of vinegar, and last
" covered them with a small quantity of
fresh sweet OIL
We knew these cOncOmitants would de-
velOp the poison, if any conld do SO. The
first application illustrated the Sliding scale
in magnificent manner Each oyster APP
peared to have well creased wheels, while
our throat was railroad track laid with
Il rails. AS we approached the last oyster
the more prominent sensations before men
toned 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 drow-
sy. The remaining three went slOwy--Oys-
tars falling and pulse rising. Leaned back
in "a somewhat exhausted condition, with an
indistinct perception that the oysters must
have been poisonous. Ordered pen, ink and
paper i'll haste, to give last impressions, and
hold up to the oyster eating world terrible
warning. Eyes closed over ITO paper, head
sunk on the white paper, and We sssot--the
sleep of an anaconda after swallowing a erll
horns, hide and ALL Awakened refreshed
and feeling better. Decided that those oys-
tiers were not poisonous, and felt perfectly
willing to continue experiments.