Mineral Point weekly tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1859-1868, 1868-06-03
The Man Who Ate the First
Oyster.

An article, illustrating the phiioso.
ply Of maniass contains the following
He was bold man " no first swallow
ed an oyster, says De Quincy. Con
celve a shipwrecked PhGnician sailor
scrambllng over the wet rocks. -
haps one who has tasted no food for
three days. He notices these little
bivalves for the first time in his lifei
accidentally he touches the open she'll
of one and it closes, lie tries to in
sert a splinter from his broken ship,
which is floating by him, where he
saw the two shells close together. but
is unsuccessful. At last he separates
the lower she'll from the rocks 10y
striking it with loose stone. and
makes an opening for his splinter; and
thus at last tears apart the ligGnents
by which the oyster holds his own.
lie stares at the strange, and TO him
disgusting, lump of Heshy substance
then he touches it with his finger, then
smells of It. lie hesitates, and finally
throws it away. An hour after, I'M
PEELED by gnawing pains in his stoms
ach, and fear of a horrible death he
goes to the place where he threw il,
searches for it, washes il clean IN a
lin pid pool left by the tide anoHg the
rocks, and, after many WY faces and
futile efforts, with a prayer to Jupiter,
swallows It. His heart heaves once
or twice. but as his tongue rolls round
his palate, lie IS forced to admit there
is nothing unpleasant in the taste left
in hts mouth. lie imagines 0uce OF
twice he feels symptoms of gripping
pain, but that passes off. An hour
later he feels 80 much better that he
looks for an other oyster, and before
the sun goes down behind the waterv
horizon he has eaten six, With an.
other prayer to tile gods, he makes
for himself a hole in the warm, dry
sand, above the tide mark. and goes
to sleep with his last thoughts turned
to the home which, after HE rash ven,
ture, added TO the other dangers of
his situation, he hardly ever expected
to see again. w hen. on the next dav.
he meets his comrades and persuades
them to eat oysters, he finds that it is
less difficult for Others to follow his
example than it was for him to set it.
and within year or two all tile sail
ors in the Phnnician navy, and all the
inhabitants in ports visited br Phpni
clan ships eat oysters regularly. So
oysters became scarce; and the origin.
al dIscoverer Of their value "a food,
on some occasions, when setting on
the beach taking Il friendly meal, com
plains that there are so MANY folks
hunting after oysters, that he cannot
obtain over SIX or eight dozen a day.
SOME Account OF w. NJ. SWAIN,
/ FORMERLY PROPRIETOR OF THE PHTLA-
DELPmA LEDGER-Business is busi-
ness. and nothing should interfere
with it, was one Of his business prin-
ciples, Consequently. lie would take
nothing oil the price Of an advertise
meGt on tine score Of friendship or
/ benevolence, or any other of the ten
thousand petty excuses made to - nip
the printer" \ gentleman once call
( ed upon him with an advertisement Of
a benefit for poor widow with sever
/ al helpless children. How much
+ for the advertisement. under the cir.
/ cumstancesY said he. just what
! it comes to, said Mr.. S.. business
/ Is business, sir charity ia another
/ question. = But, to a poor widow,
/ sir (! every dollar saved is matter of
/ serious moment to her family & Bu-
siness IS business, repeat. sir. " hat
/ ! choose TO give in charity is my own
/ private adair. Nv business has noth
+ ing to do with it Then YOU will
7 take no less p - Not cent sir.
/ The gentleman paid the bill very re-
luctantly, amounting to, perhaps two
/ dollars, and was going out of the Of
/ fee rejecting rather severely in his
own mind upon the parsimony Of Mr..
/ s, when the latter stopped him
. Do you know this widow? is she
honest and deserving ?" 4" She is sir
Mr.. S slipped a $40 bill in the gen
tlemans hand, and, turning on his
heel, walked away, saying, e business
( IS business. "
ONIONS AND EriDEntcs- in the
spring Of iSi9 j was in charge cf 100
men, on ship,board, with the cholery
among them.
We had onlorsf which number Of
the men ate freely Those who did
so were soon attacked, and neariv all
died. As soon - I made this discov-
err their use was forbidden After
mature dehbcration, / came to the
( conclusion that onions should never
/ be eaten during the prevalence Of an
epidemic for the reason that they
absorb the virus and communicate the
( disease, and that the proper use Of
( them i sliced and placed in the sick
room, and replaced with fresh ones
every few hours
1t Is a well-estabiished fact that on
ions viii extract the poison Of snakes
that | personally know. Some kinds
( of mud VIII do the SANE,
After maintaining the foregoing
opinions for eighteen gears, have the
+ following, well attestei Onions,
placed IN room where there IS small
pox. will blister and decomPose with
great.ra piditv not only so, bat will
! prevent the spread of the disease. ]
think. a. a disinfectant, they bave no
e1ual. when properly used. But keep
them out Of the stomach