40 OYSTERS, AND ALL ABOUT THEM. 



Dr. Baster, as quoted by Dr. Johnston, appears to 

 have been of opinion that the Roman predilection for 

 oysters was a sanitary one. "Living oysters," he says, 

 " are endowed with the proper medicinal virtues ; they 

 nourish wonderfully, and solicit rest ; for he who sups on 

 oysters is wont on that night to sleep placidly ; and to the 

 valetudinary afflicted with a weak stomach, oppressed with 

 phlegm or bile, eight, ten, or twelve raw oysters in a 

 morning, or one hour before dinner, are more healing than 

 any drug or mixture that the apothecary can compound." 

 This mode of acquiring an appetite for dinner appears to 

 be continued to the present time, as it is not by any means 

 uncommon, in a hospitable friend's house, to be asked to 

 take a few oysters before dinner to give you an appetite. 



Sallust, B.C. 50, appears to have had a very low 

 estimate of our ancestors, or else a very high one of the 

 oyster, when he says, " The poor Britons there is some 

 good in them after all they produce an oyster." 



Pliny has given us some valuable information on the 

 subject of oysters, from which it appears that the modern 

 system of oyster-culture was pursued by the old Romans, 

 even as early as the time of L. Crassus, the orator. His 

 remarks are worth transcribing ;- 



" The first person who formed artificial oyster-beds 

 (ostrearum vivaria) was Sergius Grata, who established 

 them at Baiae, in the time of L. Crassus, the orator, just 

 before the Marsic war (circ. B.C. 95.) (Ji] This was done 



(h) " Not far from these oyster-beds rose a palace, in which the 

 wealthy Roman used to assemble his choicest friends, and feast with 

 them the whole day and night. Oysters occupied the place of honour 

 on the table of Sergius Grata; at every feast thousands of them were 

 consumed. Satiated, but not yet satisfied, these gourmets were in the 

 habit of adjourning into an adjoining room, where they relieved the 



