GADUS MORRHUA. 



ascarides or lumbricoides is injected into the rectum. It has 

 been recommended also as a local application in paralysis, 

 various chronic cutaneous eruptions, and opacity of the cornea, 

 after the subsidence of inflammation. In the last-mentioned 

 affection, one or two drops of the oil are applied by means of 

 a pencil to the cornea, and diluted, if found too stimulating, 

 with olive or almond oil. It is said when long used to occa- 

 sion sometimes an exanthematous or eczematous eruption. 



Three varieties of cod-liver oil are known in the market : 

 the white or pale yellow, the brownish yellow, and the dark 

 brown, corresponding to the three commercial varieties already 

 alluded to. These differ in no essential character, but simply 

 from the mode of preparation, the pale being prepared from 

 fresh sweet livers, the dark brown from livers in a state of pu- 

 trefaction, and the brownish yellow from those in an interme- 

 diate state, and the three varieties run together by insensible 

 shades. The color of the pale is from the slightest tint of 

 transparent yellow to a fine golden yellow, that of the light 

 brown very similar to the color of Malaga wine, that of the 

 dark brown what its name implies, with opacity in mass, but 

 transparency in thin layers. They are of the usual consist- 

 ence of lamp oil, and have a peculiar odor and taste, by which 

 they may be distinguished from all other oils. This smell and 

 taste are familiar to most persons, being very similar to those 

 of shoe-leather, at least as prepared in this country, where the 

 curriers make great use of the cod-liver oil. These sensible 

 properties are regarded as the most certain test of the genu- 

 ineness of the oil. They are much less distinguishable in the 

 pale than in the dark brown varieties, but there are no speci- 

 mens which do not possess them in some degree. In the pur- 

 est they are scarcely repulsive, in the dark brown they are very 

 much so. When a decided smell of ordinary fish-oil is per- 

 ceived, the medicine may always be suspected. It is quite 

 distinct from that peculiar to cod-liver oil. The taste of all 

 the varieties is more or less acrid, and in the most impure is 

 bitterish and somewhat empyreumatic. 



From an analysis of the oil by De Jongh it appears to con- 

 sist of a peculiar substance named gaduin, oleic and margaric 

 acids with glycerin, butyric and acetic acids, various biliary 

 principles, as fellinic, cholic, and bilifellinic acids and biliful- 

 vin, a peculiar substance soluble in alcohol, a peculiar sub- 

 stance insoluble either in water, alcohol, or ether, iodine, chlo- 



7 



