XIV 

 OYSTERS 



OYSTERS are delicate morsels still appreciated by 

 that class of the population which nevertheless 

 shudders at the thought of eating the high-flavoured 

 " whilk " or the gristly " periwinkle," and neglects the 

 admirable mussel, so rightly valued by our French friends. 

 There are a number of interesting facts about the nature 

 and life-history of oysters, and the different kinds of 

 them a knowledge of which does not diminish, but, on 

 the contrary, rather adds to the pleasure with which one 

 swallows the shell-fish. I remember the time when 

 " natives " were sold in London at sixpence the score. 

 When I was a schoolboy at St. Paul's they were no 

 more than sixpence a dozen at the best shops in Cheap- 

 side. That inevitable form of British enterprise which 

 is known as " monopoly," many years since laid hold of 

 the oyster business, and rapidly raised the price of the 

 best natives to eight times what it had been, while the 

 typhoid " scare " came subsequently as a sort of poetical 

 justice, and threatened to ruin the oyster monopolists. 

 As a matter of fact, there is no difficulty in freeing 

 oysters from any possible contamination by the typhoid 

 germ. They have only to be kept for ten days or a 

 fortnight in large tanks of sea-water of unquestionable 

 purity after removal from the fattening grounds (tanks 



