316 OYSTERS, AND ALL ABOUT THEM. 



He made drawings of and described them, and having 

 satisfied himself that he had exhausted his scientific skill 

 in observing them, he swallowed them ; the interesting 

 bivalves had lost nothing of their excellence, and the exa- 

 mination did not prejudice their flavour, (e) 



Returning once more to the very salutary effects of an 

 oyster diet, it has been proved beyond doubt or dispute 

 that the bivalve exercises a remarkable influence in all 

 cases where the nervous organs are affected more so 

 than any other kind of food that can be taken into the 

 system. 



Physicians recommend the judicious consumption of 

 oysters to all persons suffering from weak digestion, and 

 one of the faculty (Dr. Pasquier) has asserted that they may 

 be given with great advantage to persons of intemperate 

 habits, who, by inefficacious medical treatment, have fallen 

 into debility and lowness of spirits. Gouty patients are 

 also recommended by the same adviser to feed moderately 

 upon oysters. 



A very old man was suffering from influenza, which, 

 in consequence of his age, threatened fatal results, but by 

 the judicious use of oysters he was entirely cured ; and 

 Boerhaave, the renowned Dutch physician, has recorded 

 that he knew a big, strong, tall man, who had fallen into a 

 decline, and who, after all remedies had proved entirely 

 useless, was rapidly restored to health by a diet of oysters, 

 and lived to the age of ninety-three years. 



Another French physician (Dr. Leroy) was in the 

 habit of taking two dozen of these delicious fish every 

 morning before breakfast, and when he had finished them 

 he would exultingly exhibit the empty shells to his friends, 



(e) " The Ocean World," p. 385. 



