Oysters are used more extensively and are more highly prized than any other shell-fish. They are easily digested when fresh and only slightly cooked, but when over-cooked they are tough and leathery.

They contain so little nutriment, however, in proportion to their cost, that they are a very expensive food, and are more suitable for a convalescent, or to give variety, than to furnish vigor for either brain or muscular effort.