PREFACE. 



MY object in preparing the present work has been to 

 furnish the reader, and the public in general, with a clear 

 and intelligent description of the titular subject, and to 

 bring the medicinal properties and edible value of the 

 common Oyster more in favour (despite the increasing 

 demand for it) than what with many people it has hitherto 

 obtained. There are thousands of individuals who have 

 never eaten an oyster; who from nausea aroused through 

 a delicate nervous organism, or, through disgust inspired 

 and influenced by a too sensitive imagination cannot 

 bring themselves so far as to "screw (their) courage to the 

 sticking point " to venture the attempt: but, once made, 

 the disgust is conquered, and shuddering antipathy 

 becomes natural craving. The taste and the memory 

 thereof continually haunt the appetite of the gastronomical 

 convert while he or she dreams of satisfactory indulgence 

 in the near future. It is upon such of my readers, that I 

 have sought to urge the desirability nay, the necessity of 

 habitually partaking of the esculent mollusc. 



To me the compiling of this book has been a labour 

 of love, and, from a medical point of view, my chief aim 

 in its publication has been prompted by a conscientious 

 feeling of duty and good will towards my fellow man. 



