264 THE JOURNAL OF PHARMACOLOGY. 



those cold regions, the hvers were in an advanced stage of decompo- 

 sition. This oil was the best od of those days and was iisuahy a hght-yei- 

 low color, and known as raw medicinal uiL By continuuig this 

 process more oil, but of a darker shade of color, was obtained, 

 and this was known as pale uii. i^ater on wlien the putre- 

 faction became further advanced the oil became a browner color, and 

 this oil, called a light-brown oil, was drawn off and kept separate from 

 the former. When no more oil could be squeezed out, the residue was 

 heated m a cauldron far beyond the boiling point, and the oil thus ob- 

 tained was known as brown oil and was rarely used medicinally, being 

 employed in the arts, especially fur tanniag processes, etc. indeed even 

 the variety known as the liglit-broivii oil was often rejected for internal 

 medicinal purposes. Uf the above-mentioned varieties of oil all were 

 contaminated by the putrefactive process. ». >niy one variety — the 

 brown oil — was subjected to the influences of heat. 



Since the introduction of the Holler (i) steam process in 1853 tlie 

 method of obtaining the oil has all been cbanged. As the oil is pre- 

 pared to-day in JMorway, at the celebrated hshing grounds of Lofoten 

 and Romsdalen, the livers are taken usually within six or eight hours 

 after the cod has been caught and subjected to this process. At both 

 these places the hshing season extends from January to April, and as 

 the thermometer then generally registers beiow treezing, there is no 

 chance for decomposition to occur betweea the catch anti tiie prepara- 

 tion of the oil. At the hsheries of Newfoundland and Massachusetts 

 and at those on the Shetland Islands and the eastern coast of Scotland, 

 as well as those on the coast of Russia and Iceland, the fisheries being 

 carried on at considerable distance from the land, and at the two places 

 first mentioned during the hot season, it necessarilly follows that 

 putrefaction must occur before the oil is prepared. 



By the steam process the livers are heated over a large water bath, 

 or in jacketed cauldrons, or, when the process is carried on aboard ship, 

 in an open inverted cone of wood, the purpose being to relieve the livers 

 of all the contained oil by means of a temperature not above 180° F. 

 To-day the old processes have lieen supplanted by thi., steam process. 



With reference to the normal composition of the oil of to-day, no 

 one has given the subject a more thorough study than V. Teckel Mol- 

 ler (2) who has published a work of some 492 pages, the index oi 

 which contains nearly 3000 titles. It is considered by far the most 

 complete exposition of the subject that has ever been presented. 



By a study of this and other chemical researches on the subject, we 

 are at once convinced that we are dealing with a most complex organic 

 body containing, one might almost say, numberless constituents. Mol- 



