USE OF COD-LTVER OIL IN FATTENING ANIMALS. 
237 
EXPERIMENTS ON THE USE OE COD-LIVER OIL IN 
EATTENING ANIMALS. 
Dr. Pollock communicates the following article to the 
c Lancet — 
“In the course of a careful observation of the effects 
of cod-liver oil, it occurred to me that experiments might 
with great advantage be performed, both on the healthy- 
human subject and on cattle, with a view to ascertaining 
its positive powers of fattening, when the assimilating 
functions are in a normal condition. With the use of this 
agent in arresting the progress of chronic disease we are 
becoming daily more familiar, and have already run into 
an extreme which might have been anticipated, in expect- 
ing extravagant results and an universality of application 
which we have not as yet discovered to be the property of 
any remedy which we possess. It were likely to prove a 
corrective to these extremes were we to study with minute 
care and observation the physiological effects of our favorite 
drug, and rather to permit our theories explanatory of its 
action to take their rise from experiments, than to develop 
themselves from the chemical composition of the oil, which 
contains ingredients sufficiently numerous to puzzle the most 
ingenious chemist in his attempts to apportion to each its 
effects on the animal economy. 
“The points to be ascertained with precision seem to 
me to be — first, whether the deposition of fat in healthy 
animals can be increased by the administration of cod- 
liver oil : and, secondly, the limits within which its action 
is manifested, — a consideration wffiich includes defining the 
quantity, which, when taken, is assimilated into healthy fat, 
and in excess of wffiich disease is generated. 
“ Leaving the more general and highly interesting 
questions regarding the bearing of these points on disease 
for future observations, I will shortly state w 7 hat little 
practical information I can offer towards an elucidation of 
these questions. 
“ About tw 7 o years ago, when on a visit to an intelligent 
friend residing on his own farm in Essex, and whose attention 
has been actively directed to the practical application of 
science to agriculture, it occurred to me to suggest to him the 
use of cod-liver oil in fattening cattle, stating my belief that 
it might be possible to obtain by its administration a decided 
saving in the cost of feeding. I proposed that he should 
separate off such of his stock as w r ere to be the subjects of 
