68 THE OTSTEK. 



CHAPTER YIII. 



THE OYSTER AND THE DOCTOR. 



Oyster-eating in Prussia ; Disgusting Wagers ; Oysters better 

 tlian Pills ; A Universal Eemedy ; Professional Opinions ; 

 When Ladies should eat them ; Eepugnance overcome ; 

 Oysters as an external application ; Chemical Analysis ; 

 How to tell if dead before opening. 



WHEN in Prussia, I once asked a person who did a 

 large retail business in oysters, what class of 

 persons he found to be his best customers, and what 

 was the number of oysters daily consumed by each in- 

 dividual ? 



"The morning scarcely begins to da^sTi," he replied, 

 '^ ere ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, and servants, 

 both male and female, make their appearance, not only 

 from my immediate neighboui'hood, but also from the most 

 remote parts of the city, when, on an average, every one 

 buys fi'om half a dozen up to a dozen, in addition to 

 their purchases for the several families, and in accord- 

 ance with their requirements." 



And those who do likewise in Great Britain and Ire- 

 land will soon find out the benefit of this nutritive food 

 taken thus early on an empty stomach. I once heard of 

 an individual who made a bet that he would eat twelve 

 dozen oysters, washed down by twelve glasses of Cham- 

 pagne, while the cathedral clock of the city which he in- 

 habited was striking twelve. He won his bet by placing a 



