USEFULNESS OF THE COD. 53 



adapted for the nourishment of man and animals, or for 

 some other purposes of domestic economy. The tongue, 

 for instance, whether fresh or salted, is a great delicacy ; 

 the gills are carefully preserved, to be employed as baits 

 in fishing ; the liver, which is large and good for eating, 

 also furnishes an enormous quantity of oil, which is an 

 excellent substitute for that of the whale, and useful for 

 the same purposes ; the swimming-bladder furnishes an 

 isinglass not inferior to that yielded by the sturgeon ; the 

 head, in places where the cod is taken, supplies the fisher- 

 men and their families with food. The Norwegians give 

 it with marine plants to their cows, for the purpose of 

 stimulating a greater production of milk. The vertebrae, 

 the ribs, and the bones in general are given to their cattle 

 by the Icelanders, and to their dogs by the Kamtschat- 

 dales. These same parts, properly dried, are also em 

 ployed as fuel in the desolate steppes which border on the 

 Icy Sea. The roe furnishes a table dainty, and is also 

 used, or, more correctly speaking, wasted, as ground-bait 

 for the sardine-fishery, as we shall see hereafter. Cod- 

 liver oil (oleum jecor is aselli) is recognized as a very valu- 

 able therapeutic agent, and in the earlier stages of con- 

 sumption and scrofulous affections of the joints and bones 

 acts almost as a specific. The reader will see, therefore, 

 that the cod is a fish which in its time plays many im- 

 portant parts, and will appreciate its commercial and 

 economic value. 



In Lent, and on Fridays, dried or salted cod is much 

 eaten by Roman Catholics and others ; but there can be 

 no doubt that, to do justice to the fish, it ought to be 

 eaten fresh. Cod-curing, however, is a staple trade at 

 Newfoundland, and is practised also in many of the 



