102 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



in the front is an inscription stating that " only the best beef -dripping 

 is used in this establishment." This means a repudiation of oil. Such 

 oil as has been supplied for fish-frying may well be repudiated. 



On my first visit to arctic Norway I arrived before the garnering 

 and exportation of the spring cod harvest was completed. The packet 

 stopped at a score or so of stations on the Lofodens and the mainland. 

 Foggy weather was no impediment, as an experienced pilot free from 

 catarrh could steer direct to the harbor by " following his nose." Huge 

 caldrons stood by the shore in which were stewing the last batches of 

 the livers of cod-fish caught a month before and exposed in the mean 

 time to the continuous arctic sunshine. Their condition must be im- 

 agined, as I abstain from description of details. The business then 

 proceeding was the extraction of the oil from these livers. It is, of 

 course, " cod-liver oil," but is known commercially as "fish-oil," or 

 "cod-oil." That which is sold by our druggists as cod-liver oil is de- 

 scribed in Norway as " medicine-oil," and though prepared from the 

 same raw material, is extracted in a different manner. Only fresh 

 livers are used for this, and the best quality, the " cold-drawn " oil, is 

 obtained by pressing the livers without stewing. Those who are un- 

 fortunately familiar with this carefully prepared, highly refined prod- 

 uct, know that the fishy flavor clings to it so pertinaciously that all 

 attempts to completely remove it without decomposing the oil have 

 failed. This being the case, it is easily understood that the fish-oil 

 stewed so crudely out of the putrid or semi-putrid livers must be 

 nauseous indeed. I am told that it has nevertheless been used by 

 some of the fish-fryers, and I know that refuse " Gallipoli " (olive-oil 

 of the worst quality) is sold for this purpose. The oil obtained in the 

 course of salting sardines, herrings, etc., has also been used. 



Such being the case, it is not surprising that the use of oil for fry- 

 ing should, like the oil itself, be in bad odor. 



I dwell upon this because we are probably on what, if a fine writer, 

 I should call the "eve of a great revolution" in respect to frying 

 media. 



Two new materials, pure, tasteless, and so cheap as to be capable 

 of pushing pig-fat (lard) out of the market, have recently been intro- 

 duced. These are cotton-seed oil and poppy-seed oil. The first has 

 been for some time in the market offered for sale under various fic- 

 titious names, which I will not reveal, as I refuse to become a medium 

 for the advertisement of anything however good in itself that is 

 sold under false pretenses. If the lamp of Knowledge, more fortu- 

 nate than that of Diogenes, should light upon some honest men who 

 will retail cotton-seed oil as cotton-seed oil, I shall gladly (with the 

 editor's permission) do a little straightforward touting for them, as 

 they will be public benefactors, greatly aiding the present movement 

 for the extension of the use of fish-food. 



As every bale of cotton yields half a ton of seed, and every ton of 



