LING. 265 



Ling, Cod, &c. was passed as early as the reign of Edward 

 the Third. 



The air-bladders, popularly called Sounds, are prepared 

 separately, and, with those of the Codfish, are sold pickled. 

 The roes, which are of large size, are also used as food, or, 

 preserved in brine, are sold to be employed to attract fish. 

 Another produce of the Ling is the oil extracted from the 

 liver, which is used by the poor to supply the cottage lamp ; 

 and as a medicine, Mr. Couch says, which those who have 

 been able to overcome the repugnance arising from its nau- 

 seous smell and taste, have found effectual in severe cases of 

 rheumatism, when taken in small beer in doses of from half 

 an ounce to an ounce and a half. Formerly from fifty to sixty 

 gallons of this oil, and that from the liver of the Codfish, were 

 dispensed in one large establishment for this purpose, and it 

 was found to act best when the perspiration was increased. 

 The exudation from the skin of those to whom it was ad- 

 ministered always became strongly tainted with it.* 



In Zetland, the principal fishing for Ling is from May 

 to August. On the Yorkshire coast the young are called 

 Drizzles. In Cornwall they are caught in January and 

 February, and their favourite haunts are about the margins 

 of the rocky valleys of the ocean. The Ling is exceedingly 

 prolific, and of most voracious appetite, feeding on young 

 fish, not sparing anything that has life, and the prey is 

 swallowed whole, so that no great art is required to catch it. 

 It is tenacious of life, and survives great injury. " I once," 

 says Mr. Couch, " saw a Ling that had swallowed the usual 

 large hook, shaft foremost, of which the point had fixed in 

 the stomach, and as the line drew it, it turned round, en- 

 tered the opposite side of the stomach, and fastened the 

 organ together in complicated folds ; yet having escaped by 



* Memoirs of the Literary and Philosophical Society of Manchester, vol. iii.; 

 and Dr. Bardsley's Medical Reports, 8vo. 1807, p. 18. 



