Washington telegraph., 1855-01-10
An Experiment.

The editor OF the Evansville ~JoITral- hearing
of the alleged poisonous character OF oysters this
season herolcaily resolved 10 sacrifice himself for
the health OF the community, and ties. in his own
person the deleteFious effects OF the noxiOcs food
and settle, once for all whether they were poison
Gus or not He relates the experiment with thrill
ing circumstantiaIity- Like the French Doctor
who being attacked by fatal epidemic, noted and
wrote down the progress OF the disease as be was
dying, for the instruction of the profession this
phiantnropic Evansviilian records the steps in his
experiment, for tae good OF high feeders; and
restaurant keepers
As the people of the West are receiving oysters
BY the ton, and especially as Evansville appears
TO have az unusual share of the commodity. we
have been carefully carrying on private examin-
atoms. 10 ascertain II could discover any Dois-
elous qualities in oysters brought TO this city 50
that We might at OEce sound the alarm to the ears
o. the stonlachs of Our iellow-citizens We ccm-
Elenced these experiments with great deal OF
Caution, and IN 4 very limited wav- so that If the
esculen: vegetable should prove poisonous tine al
tacs, might not prove entirely fatal otherwise we
could not Re expected TO live and sound the alarm
We pTocGTed hall can OF the first arrival when
opened the suspicious critters had cream white
eppea rance and seemed fat and hearty We or
dsIed one-thIrd ste-Eet- say about two Dozen
They tasted natural, In tact very grateful to the
palate In five minutes tkey had disappeaFed-
Pulse 81 beats to the minute gain Of cle and a
very slight sensation only OF fuIneSs abou: the
stomach-breathing easy as yet. and a sense of
exnlieTatIon IN the system and kind Of craving
Tor food.
After tais examination, cook brought in the
next two dozen fried IN cOTnmeal. with slight
touch OF shadowing of eggs thereon These filled
quite a large platter and we thought certainly we
should be able 20 extract some poisonous InredI-
ent from that quantity of experimental matter
Taste very pleasant again-in fact more palaEabie
than IN the stewed condition. Time Of destruc-
tIc1 Eiteen and halt rcinutes: pulse 81 gain Of
Sly; sensation of fulIness about the stomach de-
cidsdiJ more apparent; breathing S0newh hat i'm
Peded; but the craving so marked before veTv
much diminished Noticed the thermometer
thinking the heat OF the room increased. but as
tonisnet to iind it two degrees cooler than at the
start
Thinking that probably the process Of applying
heat - the vegetables had killed the Doisou we
ordered the remainder OF the can two dozen large
to be brought raw They also filled quite large
plate, and had plump lair appearance We
smeared them over slightly with mustard. fresh
ly mixed and then sprinkled them with black
pepper, followed with touch of vinegar and last
iy covered them with small quantity of fresh
sweet OIL We knew these conCCnitants would
develop the poison If any could do So The first
application illustrated the Sliding scale in a mag
nlhcent manner Each oyster appeared to have
well CREASED wheels while our throat was rail-
Toad track laid with 7 rails. As approached
the last oysters, the more prominent sensations
before mentioned seemed increased Pulse mark
ed 81, and three oysters left; quite oppression
OF the stomach, and breathing decidedly more
difficult, with indisposi,ion to make any exer-
tIon- Craving for fcOd all gone and eyes droyrsy.
Inc remaining three went tslOwiy-oysterS falling
and pulse rising Leaned back in a somewhat
exhausted condition with an indistinct perception
that the oysters must have been poisonous Or
deret pen, ink and paper in haste to give the last
impressions. and hold up 10 the oyster eating
world terrible warning Ewes closed over the
paper, head sunk on the white sheet and We slept
the sleep OF an anaconda after swallowing a
bull, horns. hide and all. Awaked refreshed and
feeling better. Decided that those oysters were
not poisonous, and ielt perfectly willing 10 con-
sInue experiments" lCAio1so Journal