The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-03-08
PROF. BREWERS OPINION
NOTED SATANT,S VIEWS AS TO
 HEALTHFULNESS OF OYSTERS.

dressed to Henry c. Rowe, Presi-
 dent of the Connecticut Oyster Crow
 CTS Association.
 The recent discussion of oysters led to communication addressed to Pro- lessor Brewer by Henry c. Rowe, president of the Connecticut Oyster Growers' association, and Professor Brewer has replied in very interest ing and convincing way. His long study of these subjects, together with his authority as president of the state board of health, give his utterances on the subject special interest and importance, He writes as follows: MT. Henry c. Rowe,
 New Haven.
 Dear MT. Rowe:-Yours of the 18th reached me the next day, enclosing clipping, which I thank you for. have delayed answering, hoping to get more definite information regarding the sensational newspaper statements pCl Ldllllll6 u lu0 OctllSCl llA hllieo III oysters shipped after opening.
 From other newspaper statements published since our conversation on the matter, I suspect that the former was a fake story. No one that I can hear of fathers it.
 Whatever may be it's origin, I have to repeat what I said to you regard ing the alleged danger from ptomaine poisoning in opened oysters shipped by the usual methods.
 It seems to me that the very con- trary is the case, that instead of their being more liable than meats of fish canned, that there is less The evidence of experience points that way.
 l am old enough to have had oppor- tunitiy of observation over a sufficient number of years to have had my att tention called to this danger, if it ex- ists. have heard frequently of pto- maine poisoning from canned meats and fish, or at least alleged to have come from that source, but have nev- CT heard of a single case where such poisoning was alleged to be due to oysters, opened at the shore and ship ped inland.
 To show you further what l mean. My specific recollections on the matter go back to 1S4O, when, as a lad of twelve years, I was sent to an aca- denny in a county seat of western New York I boarded in the family of grocer, who dealt in oysters with other provisions. They all came as opened oysters, in small wooden kegs, in those days, and they were kept in a big refrigerator in the back room of the store He kept no restaurant, but that back room was locally fam ous as a place to gt oysters" even ings after the front store was closed.
 That was the autumn of the Harri- son presidential campaign, which was more strenuous than any previous campaign, by the Introduction of log cabins and hard cider. I have vivid recollection that popular form of election bet was an Oyster supper" at the expense of the loser.
 That oyster supper" usually meant oysters, and included crackers and hard cider, Cor more rarely, bottled ale). The terms of the bet were oft ten explicitly and emphatically ex- pressed by the formula, "all the oys- ters you can eat, raw or stewed, or both.''
 That back room was a popular place to pay these debts. What the place lacked in style, it made up in its gen erous abundance No danger of the supply failing. an accident peculiarly liable to happen if the Supper" came off at a village restaurant. hae a keen recollection of the hi- lariity with which some of these debts were paid. It was a privilege to be the boy assistant to the boss, or clerk, who acted as general manager, cook and waiter, all in one. There were appetite and capacity, the greater the amount eaten the better the joke on the loser, who, of course, was of the loco-foco party.
 I often heard of indigestion and of mistaken confidence in personal capa- city, but never of a case of ptomaine poisoning.
 Until 1860, my home was in western New York or western Pennsylvania, when the means of transportation were far poorer than now, and used oysters in their season, always shipped opened. When in western Pennsylvania the supply came from Chesapeake bay, when in western New York from Long Island sound.
 In all the long time, over sixty-six years, I will repeat, that I never heard of even a suspicious case attributed to oysters; therefore, I want to see some evidence of fact before I believe that any special danger turks in oysters so handled.
 Pardon the length of this letter. the story of the grocery back room is told merely to emphasize the time during which I have had personal knowledge, and that oysters so transported have been long used abundantly There were more oyster supper" bets in the next presidential campaign, Folks, in 1S44, than in 1S40.
 Yours truly,
 (Signed) VIM. H. BREWER.
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