320 
PHARMACEUTICAL MEETING. 
finest oil.- A question had been suggested as to the value of the different 
coloured kinds of oil, and it was very desirable that this question should be 
determined, and also whether the Lofoden or Newfoundland oil suffered most 
by the same degree of heat; he believed the Norwegian oil was most susceptible 
of injury in that way, and that would account for the great care which Mr. 
Moller took to keep the temperature as low as possible. He did not know 
whether the same care was exercised in Newfoundland, but he apprehended it 
was not. A short time ago he had read a book by an American author, ‘After 
Icebergs with a Painter,’ in which the process of preparing the oil in Newfound¬ 
land was minutely described ; and according to that, a very high temperature 
was employed, that the oil was filtered whilst in almost a boiling state, and 
then filtered again through felt when cool; after this second process, the writer 
described the oil as being as tasteless and colourless as the finest olive oil. 
Mr. Hills said there was no difficulty whatever at the present moment in 
obtaining the finest livers, weighing from 1 lb. to 2 lbs. each. He had been in¬ 
formed that the livers were taken out in London because they broke and 
spoiled the fish, if sent into the country without being removed. He had seen 
in one house in London more than a ton of livers in one night, and the oil was 
obtained with the application of very little heat indeed, and as to how many 
other houses there were, using many tons at the same time, he could not say. 
He had seen very fine specimens of oil manufactured in England, but if Mr. 
Moller had perfected a process for obtaining the oil with little or no heat, it was 
certainly an advance. He thought they were under great obligations to Mr. 
Howden for his paper. 
Dr. Redwood said that the great advantages which appeared to attach to 
the manufacture of cod-liver oil in Norway, as described by Mr. Howden, arose 
from the fact of their being able to obtain livers in considerable quantity, and 
in the very freshest condition, and also to their having a very low temperature, 
arising from the climate, to which the oil might be exposed, in order to sepa¬ 
rate the stearine from the oleine, so that they would naturally expect oil pre¬ 
pared in such a climate,—if the best method were adopted,—to contain a very- 
small portion of solidifiable matter. Independently of these two particulars, it 
appeared to him that oil could be prepared as well in England as in Norway. 
The fish caught for the English market was obtained from sources where it was 
known to be in the best condition for the epicure; and certainly, therefore, 
the livers must be in a condition to supply the best oil. As far as his own ob¬ 
servation had gone, oil was prepared in London which, as regarded its intrinsic 
qualities, was equal to any prepared in Norway or Newfoundland. The prin¬ 
cipal advantage in Norway was, that he had referred to of a low temperature ; 
and it appeared from the paper they had heard, that the ordinary process 
adopted there was inferior to that followed in England, and that the general 
quality of oil manufactured there was inferior to that made at home, inasmuch 
as the livers were generally kept for a considerable time before being used. 
With reference to the different characters of cod-liver oil, there seemed to have 
been, from its first introduction to the present time, a difference of opinion as 
to which of the three varieties was therapeutically the best; the pale or very 
light coloured, the amber coloured, or the dark brown. As had been stated 
in the paper, there were a great number of persons, both medical men and pa¬ 
tients, who had always been in favour of the coloured in preference to the very 
pale oil; whilst, on the other hand, many persons could not take the coloured 
oil in sufficient quantity to produce any therapeutical effect. In his opinion , 
the cause of this difference of opinion might be thus explained. There was no 
doubt that the article in question was one of those oils which were exceedingly 
susceptible of oxidation, and, as had been proved by experiment, it absorbed 
oxygen more than almost any other oil, and the difference between the very 
