The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1899-12-15
THEyOY6TER AS, FOOD



The recent experiments which have
been carried on in England with re-
gard to the fitness of the oyster as q
food product have produced come rath-
er alarming results for the consldera-
ton of the lovers of the luscious BIZ
valve"
It appears that we are in as much
danger from bacteria and other small
and awful things when we eat oysters
as when we quietly kiss our girl or
somebody else's. Still, we can hardly
think that the evil effect of either has
been very great, for both pleasures have
been indulged in from the remotest an
tiquity. Man probably ate oysters as
early as any sort of animal food.
AS far back as the time just follow
ing the glacial epoch, when all the
northern hemisphere was covered by
an enormous ice cap many thousand
feet in thie kness, there is evidence that
the then primitive, uncultured man,
who did not even know how to use
tools, ate oysters. Judging from the
amount Of them he consumed he APP
parently enjoyed them. The evidence
as to this point is found in the great
kitchen middens" located all along the
eastern coast of North America and
at many points on the coast of Eu-
rope.
These so-called ''middens" are moth
ing more than the heaps of refuse in
cident on the housekeeping arrange
ments of primitive man. They are of
enormo us extent and thickness, and are
principally made up of the broken
shells of various sorts of shellfish, sea
urchins, etc. In these great shell heaps
oyster shells largely predominant, and
from this it is seen that early man liked
his oyster, and from the half shell, too.
It has always been matter of great
wonder how the first man to eat an
oyster came to do such a rash thing.
There have been many legendary and
poetical accounts of how this came
about. One has it that man one day
walking along the scashorc accidentally
kicked an old oyster shell, which at
once opened wide its valves, allowing
the man to get glimpse of the beau
tiful craam-colored layers that shone
within.
His curiosity aroused. the man inn
mediatcly put his thumb and finger into
the opening SO that he might take a
closer look at the contents. The fingers
were, of course, pinched severely and
soon as released applied to the mouth
to soothe the wound. The. pain was
instantly forgotten and its place taken
by delicious stimulation of the sense
of taste.
Very shortly the first oyster was
eaten. Another story makes the act
of eating the first oyster punishment.
Ever since, men have gone on eating
oysters. They formed the first dish
at the classic banquet of the Romans.
Vitellius act oysters all day long and
the idea prevailed that he could eat a
thousand at one sitting. Calisthenes,
the philosopher, was passionate oy-
ster eater. To another Roman, Ser
gius Orata, we owe the original idea of
the oyster park. He invented the oy-
ster pond, in which he bred oysters,
not for his own table, but for profit.
Among modern celebrities whose love
for oysters is recorded there is Louis
XII, who feasted the learned doctors of
the Sarbonne once a year on oysters.
Another Louis gave to his cook an or
der of nobility for his skill in cooking
them, and it is recorded of Napoleon
that he always partook of the bivalve,
when they could be procured, on the
eve of his great battles.
Whatever the scientists may say in
regard to the possible poisonous effects
OF the bacteria, it is certain that there
is no more easily digested food than
the Gyster. !. One hundred and ninety
TIVE oysters contain an amount of nutri-
ment equal to IL ounces of dry nitro
genized substance. and as this is the
amount of food necessary for the sup
port OF a man for day, it follows that
II he were to live entirely on oysters
he would have to eat 1872 day.
This very fact of their small nutritiye
power explains their extreme digest
Utility. All other known food SUBJ
stances will under certain conditions
cause indigestion, but oysters have
never been known to do so.-Philadel-
phia Press.