The Berlin correspondent of the Daily Telegraph contri- butes to
Tuesday's issue a budget of Bismarckiana from the forthcoming volume of Herr John Booth. The selected anecdotes all refer to Bismarck's prodigious consumption of food, drink, and tobacco. Thus a propos of oysters, Bismarck is said to have admitted that he once ate one hundred and seventy-five at a sitting. As regards smoking and drinking, he advanced the curious theory that a certain quantity is pre- destined for each individual. "When he has consumed that, his powers of reception cease to work. For myself [this was in 1879] I claim about 100,000 cigars and 5,000 bottles of champagne." Bismarck was probably not above playing upon the credulity of his auditors, but of all great men he probably had the largest appetite, and, what was more, he appeared to glory in his voracity.
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