con. 57 



I have found the young ones less than an inch in length 

 by the end of May, and they require at least the second year 

 to render them fit for the market. When about half grown 

 they are often caught in rough ground near the land, and 

 being somewhat variously coloured they have been regarded as 

 a separate species, with the name of Tamlin Cod, a name 

 which is first mentioned by Jago, and after him by Borlase. 

 The word tarn in a western dialect sii^nifies what is short and 

 stout, and is applied to this fish because it is in full condition 

 at the time when the full-grown fish has become thin from the 

 effect of spawning. 



Besides that the Cod in its season is an excellent dish for 

 the table, an important use of it is when it is salted and 

 dried, the ordering of which is effected in a different manner 

 in different places, but into the peculiarities of which this is 

 not the place to enter. The tongues and sounds for air-bladders) 

 are also preserved in pickle, and in this condition when boiled 

 they form a very acceptable dish. The usefulness of this fish has 

 also been more widely extended of late by the employment 

 of the oil extracted from the liver in several diseases, in some 

 of Avhich it is found an important remedy. The first notice 

 we have of it as such, was in the medical works of Dr. 

 Bardsley, who mentions it as prescribed for chronic rheumatism 

 in the Dispensary at Manchester, at the beginning of the 

 present century, and since that time it has found general 

 acceptance in glandular diseases among medical practitioners. 

 But in England at least it has been found that this oil can 

 only be extracted from the liver when the fish is in its best 

 condition; for when its strength has become exhausted by the 

 process of spawning, and until the recovery of its flesh, which 

 is not soon effected, the liver is found in a like state of 

 emaciation with the flesh, and affords no oil. We believe that 

 the greater portion of what is now used is obtained from the 

 fishery of Newfoundland, where, however, it has been said 

 that the fish is scarcely equal to those caught in our own 

 waters. 



The value Avhich has been set on the Cod is of comparatively 

 modern date, since it does not appear that this fish was known 

 at the tables of the Romans of the Empire; a circumstance 

 to be explained by the fact that it Avas not found in the 

 Mediterranean. The first regular fishery aj) pears to have been 

 VOL. III. I 



