INTRODUCTION xi 



Some, whose stomachs generally require much con- 

 sideration, can eat oysters with impunity. Dr. 

 Paris, however, condemns them for invaHds. It is 

 said that if a cupful of hot milk is taken by delicate 

 persons immediately after eating them, it will greatly 

 assist their digestion. The Rev. J. G. Wood, who 

 has written a good deal on the subject of the oyster, 

 says, in regard to eating them, ' As to such heresies 

 as pepper and vinegar, let them be banished from 

 the table, whilst oysters are upon it. These charm- 

 ing mollusks should always be taken unmitigated, 

 without losing the delicacy of their flavour by a 

 mixture with any condiment whatever except their 

 native juice. Scarcely one man in a thousand knows 

 how to open an oyster, and still less how to eat it. 

 ' The ordinary system which is employed at the 

 oyster shops is radically false, for all the juice is 

 lost, and the oyster is left to become dry and insipid 

 upon the flat shell, which effectually answers as a 

 drain to convey off the liquid, which is to the 

 oyster what the milk is to the cocoa-nut. Those 

 who wish to eat oysters as they should be eaten 

 should act as follows. Hold the mollusk firmly in 

 a cloth, insert the point of a knife neatly just before 

 the edge of the upper shell, give a quick decided 

 pressure till the point is felt to glide along the 

 polished inner surface of the under shell ; force it 

 sharply to the hinge, give a smart wrench rather 

 towards the right hand, and off comes the shell. 

 Then pass the knife quickly under the oyster, 

 separate it from its attachment, let it fall into the 

 lower shell, floating in its juice, lift it quickly to 

 the lips, and eat it before the delicate aroma has 

 been dissipated into the atmosphere. There is as 

 much difference between an oyster thus opened 



