The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1878-01-31
THE FESTIVE OYSTER.

A Natural History OF the Popular BIZ
valve--An Interesting Lecture.
F'om the Baltimore Sun
Rev. DR.. j. &. Morris leoturod on
"The Natural History of the Oyster"
at tho Second English Lutheran
church, Thursday night, before q
large audience. Tho subject had
been chosen for him, but there
could not be q more luscious and
juicy one, nor one more full of in
terest. A great deal had been said,
written and practiced about it
there was indeed vast oyster prac-
tice in Baltimore every day-~but
most people know little Of the life
and habits of the oyster. 1t was
out of the way of ordinary lecture
subjects of the present day, most of
which are as dry us punk" There
were curious and laughable things
about an oyster, but there was
much more than that in the subject
There was it's immense financial inn
portance in mercantile view.
Thousands of men, women and
children were given employment
here in the oyster trade who would
otherwise have no work in the win
tor season. There were $4,OOO,OOO
invested in it in Now York City, and
probably great deal more than
that in Maryland.
The oyster was we'll known to the
ancicnts thousands of years ago,
though it is not mentioned in the
Bible, unless under the general class
of she'll fish and molusks, but the
profane writer's are loud in their
praises. No dinnor could bo COM
plete without oysters. Here in
Maryland there is full evidence of
their antiquity. Vast beds Of shells
ten feet thick are found at great
distances from the shores of the bay,
showing that the inhabitants in old
times had carried the bivalves {. away
to feast on them. The heaps were
now covered with other soil.
It is not known who was the first
man to eat an oyster, but he was
very brave man to put such
looking animal in his mouth and
swallow it, without knowing wheth-
er it was good to eat or not. Ira
dition has it, that long and long
ago, a man walking by the bay shore,
saw q curious, ugly object. half
covered in the weeds. He gave it
a kick, when the oyster opened it's
mouth, and he saw the white pearly
object within. The man pricd curi-
ously at it, and put q finger in the
shell, which was instantly clamped
down. Jerking out his finger, he
placed it in his mouth to cease the
pain. Getting taste of tie Juice,
he found it good, and, breaking
open the shell he ate tho whole
oyster. This discoverer told his
friends, and oysters quickly became
known as delicacies.
Everybody eats oysters. To q
few the taste is not natural, but the
appetite is soon trained, and these
become the greotest eaters of them.
Men of old days ate oysters all day
long, and it was true now that men
could eat just as many raw ones as
they could find room for in the
capacity of--we)l. call it what you
choose. Cooked oysters would
surfeit. The raw oyster wss so
easily digestible, because it
was firstly composed of seven
eighths water. slightly gelatinized,
and small quantity Of nutritive
matter; secondly, it's liver, the
black part of the oyster, was larger
in proportion than in man, and
secreted a great deal of bile.
This, with the fluids of the stomach,
make two factors of digestion, and
the oyster partly digests itself.
The oyster is one of the few
animals eaten alive, for it is not
exactly dead when swallowed,
unless you cut it in pieces first.
Its natural history commences with
the she'll, which is no part of the
animal at all, but only a house, It
is composed of carbonate of lime.
The two black marks on the inside
are where tha ndstrictnr ,nuroJa