COD-LIVER OIL 677 



COD-LIVER OIL 



OLEUM MORRHILE. Oleum Jecoris Aselli. The oil ex- 

 tracted from the fresh liver of the cod, Gadus morrhua, 

 by the application of a temperature not exceeding 

 180 Fahr. ; and from which solid fat has been separated 

 by filtration at about 23 Fahr. (B.P.) 



The chief supplies of cod-liver oil come from Newfound- 

 land. An oil called candle-oil, prized by the Indians as a 

 tonic, and used along the Pacific coasts, is obtained from 

 the oslachan or boulican, which inhabits the waters of 

 British Columbia and Vancouver's Island. Good samples 

 of cod-liver oil have a pale yellow colour, and an oily, fishy 

 taste, which becomes, howe'ver, less obvious to those 

 accustomed to take it. The dark colour and nauseous 

 flavour of indifferent specimens result from exposure to 

 high temperatures, or from the oil being extracted from 

 stale, putrid livers. Specific gravity, 0'920 to 0'930 ; ether 

 dissolves it readily ; cold alcohol dissolves 2 to 3 per cent. ; 

 hot alcohol, 3 to 7 per cent. It consists of olein (85 per 

 cent.), varying proportions of palmitin, myristin, and stearin ; 

 traces of four volatile and two fixed alkaloids, morrhuic 

 acid, with biliary and other organic bodies containing traces 

 of phosphorus, iodine, bromine, and chlorine. A drop of 

 sulphuric acid, added to a few drops of cod-liver oil in a 

 porcelain cup, develops a violet colour, which passes to 

 yellow or brown-red, depends upon the presence of biliary 

 matters, and indicates the source, but not the purity or 

 goodness of the oil. 



ACTIONS AND USES. Cod-liver oil is nutrient, tonic, and 

 alterative. Like other fixed oils, large doses cause nausea, 

 derangement of the bowels, and purgation. For lubricant 

 purposes, vegetable and mineral oils are more convenient 

 and less liable to rancidity. 



In experiments with cod-liver oil, made by an Essex 

 agriculturist, on pigs, sheep, and cattle, twenty pigs, separ- 

 ated from a lot of three hundred, averaging from five to 

 fifteen stones, received two ounces of oil daily, with as 

 much meal as they cleared up. The rest of the lot were 



