Daily camera., 1899-08-01
THE OYSTER AS FOOD
Was Considered a Necessity by Prim-
tive Man
Regarded By Modern Nan with As
Much FavOr-OpintOns of Ssisn-
fists As to Their HsAltA-
fulnesa.

The recent experiments which have
been carried on in England with re-
gard to the fitness of the oyster es a
food product have produced come rath-
er alarming results for the considera-
ton of the lovers of the luscious BIZ
valve"
1t 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 thickness, 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 ap-
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
cidsnt on the housekeeping arrange
ments of primitive man They are of
enormous 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 predominate, and
from this il is seen that early man liked
his oyster, and from the half shell, too.
1t has always been a 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
l>oeccal accounts of how this came
about. One has il that a man one day
walking along the scashore acciden tally
kicked an old oyster shell. which 1T
once opened wide its valves, allowing
the man TO get a glimpse Of the beau
tiful crssm-eolored layers that shone
within.
His curiosity aroused. the man i'm
mediatcty put his thumb and finger into
the opening SO that he might take
closer look at the contents. The fingers
were, of course. pinehed severely and
soon as released applied to the mouth
to soothe the wound. The pain was
Instantly forgotten and its place taken
l., Ill.
of taste.
Very shortly the frss 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
Ni,ellius act oysters all day long and
the iden prevailed that he could eat
thousand at one sitting. Oalisthenes,
the philosopher, was passionate oy-
s.cr 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
NJ, who feasted the learned doctors OF
the Sarbonne once 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 par,ook 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 oyster. One hundred and ninety
two oysters contain nm amount of nutri-
ment equal to - ounces of dry nitro
genized substance, and as this is the
amount of food necessary for the sup
port of n man for day, it follows that
II he were TO live entirely on oysters
he would have TO eat l92 n day.
This very fact of their small nutritive
power explains their extreme digest
ibility. All other known food sub
stances will under certain conditions
cause indigestion, but oysters have
never been known to do so.-Philadel-
phia Press.