64 SPORT IN NORTH AMERICA. 



importance for two men to quarrel about its posses- 

 sion, and for a judge to be guilty of such a denial 

 of justice for its sake. This fable is more than a 

 eulogium of the oyster ; it is an apotheosis. 



The oyster is one of those creatures which are to 

 be met with almost everywhere, in every sea, and 

 which have served for the food of men in very remote 

 ages.* It is a light, nutritious, and agreeable food, 

 and is so easily digested that great oyster-eaters 

 have been known to eat from fifty to eighty dozen 

 without the slightest inconvenience, and some even 

 can eat a hearty breakfast after such a preface, just 

 as if they had eaten absolutely nothing. 



This is not all that may be urged in favour of 

 oysters. The water which they contain holds 

 sulphate of magnesium, sulphate of lime, and 



* The most ancient naturalists make mention of the oyster. It was 

 upon the shells of these molluscs that the Athenians wrote their 

 suffrages and voted their decrees, and the word Ostracism is derived 

 from; the Greek "Oa-rpeov, which signified Oyster. It seems impossible 

 that before using the shell the Athenians did not discover the value of 

 its contents. According to Pliny, a certain ingenious Roman, Serglus 

 Grata by name, invented a mode of constructing vivaria in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Baiae for the purpose of fattening oysters, particularly 

 those of the Lucrine Lake, which then had a great reputation on 

 account of their delightful flavour. This invention dates from the time 

 of the orator Lucius Crassus, before the Marsic War ; but before the 

 time of Pliny himself the Romans had begun to recognise the superiority 

 of Ocean oysters over those of the Mediterranean. They were sent to 

 Italy during the winter packed up in .snow, sufficiently compressed 

 to prevent the shell from opening. Vitellius, say some historians, 

 was in the habit of devouring twelve hundred at each meal, and he 

 repeated this four times a day. What a stomach for oysters ! and 

 what capacity ! 



