678 COD-LIVER OIL 



treated in exactly the same manner, but got no oil. Those 

 receiving the oil are stated to have consumed less food, 

 and when killed ' weighed the heaviest and made the most 

 money in the London market, the fat being firm and white. 

 When the daily allowance of oil was increased to four ounces 

 per day, the fat became yellow, and the flesh acquired a 

 fishy taste.' For small pigs, an ounce daily was found the 

 most economical quantity. An ounce given daily to sheep 

 improved the quality both of the fat and flesh ; while 

 cattle receiving about half a pint daily are stated to have 

 eaten less food, and paid better, than when treated in the 

 usual way. The oil, it is mentioned, cost from 2s. 8d. to 

 3s. per gallon, and in some comparative experiments it is 

 said to have proved superior to sperm oil. These experi- 

 ments confirm the recognised* fact that oleaginous materials 

 are essential to speedy and economical fattening ; they do 

 not, however, establish the individual superiority of cod- 

 liver oil. In healthy animals equally satisfactory results 

 would probably be obtained from the use of linseed, lard, 

 rape, or other mild fixed oil. 



MEDICINAL USES. The biliary constituents of cod-liver 

 oil facilitate its emulsion and digestion. Experiments 

 show that admixture of a little bile hastens absorption of 

 any bland oil included in a loop of intestine. Cod-liver oil 

 is also very readily oxidised. This ready absorption and 

 assimilation render it specially useful not only for children, 

 but for young animals, in cases of malnutrition and con- 

 valescence from exhausting disease. Added to skim milk, 

 in quantities of three to four ounces per gallon, it is very 

 useful as a food for calves in place of new milk. Although 

 it has no specific action on any particular organ, it im- 

 proves general nutrition. Two-ounce doses, given twice 

 daily, usually benefit delicate horses, thriving badly after 

 strangles and influenza. ' In chronic catarrh and bron- 

 chitis, it appears to furnish suitable material for the forma- 

 tion of mucous cells and the repair of the inflamed mucous 

 membrane ' (Brunton). Like other oils, it materially 

 relieves horses suffering from broken wind. It helps 

 recovery of cattle reduced by diarrhoea, anaemia, or rheu- 

 matism, but for many such cases in horses, cattle, and sheep, 



