2 



HISTORY OF THE OYSTER. 



A.D. GO, was in high repute among the luxurious 

 Romans. 



'^ 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, is more healing than any drug or mix- 

 ture that the apothecary can compound." This mode 

 of acquiring an appetite for dinner appears to be con- 

 tinued 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." 

 One Sergius Orata is the first person of whom we 

 have an authentic account as a cultivator of oysters ; 

 for, says Pliny, he did not make them for the sake of 

 indulging his appetite, but through avarice ; and made 

 great profits of them. Orata got great credit for his 

 Lucrine oysters, for the British were not then known. 



