X INTRODUCTION. 



144 oysters. The ' Almanach des Gourmands' 

 (1803) states that 'beyond five or six dozen, as a 

 mere indispensable prelude to a winter dejeuner, 

 it is proved that oyster eating most certainly ceases 

 to be an enjoyment.' 



Brillat-Savarin once weighed a dozen oysters, 

 and found they weighed four ounces, which gives 

 for the weight of a gross three pounds, and re- 

 marked that the same persons who dined were 

 not a bit the worse after their oysters, who would 

 have been completely satiated had they eaten an 

 equal quantity of any meat, however delicate. 



He also relates that, in 1798, when he was at 

 Versailles in the capacity of a commissioner of the 

 Directory, that he was frequently thrown in the 

 way of the Sieur Laporte, clerk to the Tribunal 

 of the Department, who was excessively fond of 

 oysters, and often complained that he had never 

 had ' his fill of them.' 



Brillat-Savarin resolved to procure him this 

 gratification, and invited him to dine. 



They both ate three dozen, and then Brillat- 

 Savarin had to stop, but the Sieur went on alone ; 

 but when he had arrived at the thirty-second dozen, 

 his host was getting so tired of the game of looking 

 on, he at last exclaimed, ' My very dear fellow, I see 

 it is not written that you are to have your fill of 

 oysters to-day ; let us begin our dinner,' and when 

 they began the Sieur dined ' with the vigour of a 

 man who had fasted for twelve hours previously ! ' 



Dr. Spencer Thomson, in speaking of the nutri- 

 tive powers and wholesomeness of the oyster, says 

 that when uncooked they are especially wholesome, 

 but their digestibility in all probability depends 

 greatly upon the person by whom they arc eaten. 



