444 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. [December 2,1871. 
English manufacturers. That which is made in the 
months of April, May and June is considered by the 
French the best, as the livers are then lean, later 
they become too fat, and yield a less useful oil in a 
therapeutic point of view. 
On the Norwegian coast the catch of each boat 
varies in the yield from eight to twenty barrels of 
livers. The fish in the early part of the season are 
rich in liver, so that from 250 to 300 of the net- 
cauglit fish give a barrel of liver, while 50 to 100 
more of the fish taken on lines are required. As the 
season advances, the fish become perceptibly poorer, 
from 400 to 450 being required to fill a barrel; while 
on the seaboard or western side of the Lofoden 
Islands from 600 to 700 are necessary. On the 
whole, therefore, it may be assumed that the average 
number of 450 livers is required to fill a barrel. 
The total produce of cod-liver oil from the Norwegian 
fisheries in 1809 was estimated at 19,000 barrels, 
and good marketable roes 17,000 barrels. 200 bar¬ 
rels were prepared as medicinal cod-liver oil. Fresh 
livers for medicinal oil fetched from 27s. to 31s. per 
barrel, old livers from 22s. to 26s., and cod roes from 
32s. to 35s. per barrel. 
A long and interesting article on the manufacture 
of cod-liver oil in Norway, by Mr. Peter Moller, a 
chemist of Christiania, was published in my Techno¬ 
logist for 1862*(vol. ii. p. 376), from which I extract 
the method he recommended to be pursued:— 
“ The liver is taken as fresh as possible—that is, 
as soon as it is taken out of the fish,—and is then 
washed and cleaned with water, and the gall-bladders 
removed; it is then cut up into small pieces, and 
thrown into the kettle. When this is nearly two- 
thirds full, the fire is lighted underneath, and the 
water in the kettle is brought to a boiling state, and 
must be kept so as long as the process of melting 
lasts. The whole mass must be constantly stirred, 
and pressed with a large wooden spoon, in order to 
promote the separation of the oil, which as it liquefies 
is gradually poured into a cask through a strainer. 
“ The process must be continued in this manner till 
all the oil is extracted from the livers. The remain¬ 
ing portion of the liver is then taken out of the 
kettle and laid on one side, in order to yield the 
brown or currier’s oil, after the manufacture of the 
best and purest oil is completed.” 
In good years from 12,000 to 16,000 casks of both 
sorts of oil are exported from Norway a large por¬ 
tion of which is employed for medicinal purposes. 
{To he continued.) 
PHARMACY IN EDINBURGH IN THE OLDEN 
TIME.* 
BY JAMES MACKENZIE. 
Gentlemen,—The subject which I now intend bring¬ 
ing before you, viz. “ Edinburgh Pharmacy in Olden 
Times,” is one fraught with much interest to all who are 
engaged in the study and prosecution of this science, ex¬ 
hibiting as it does the rise and progress of pharmacy in 
our good old city during the last two or three centuries. 
The circumstances which seem to have conduced to its 
most primitive existence, are more complicated, obscure 
and curious than one could well imagine at first sight. 
A knowledge of medicines and the mysteries which have 
ever shrouded their preparation, dates from the earliest 
time. To relieve disease by the use of such means is 
* Read at a meeting of the North British Branch of the 
Pharmaceutical Society, Edinburgh, November 24th, 1871. 
associated with Christianity itself; hence, for long ages, 
we find it connected with various ecclesiastical bodies, 
being then considered an inseparable part of their edu¬ 
cation and calling. While there was much to recommend 
its being thus associated, we have good reason to believe 
it was often used for sinister purposes. 
At the very outset, however, we are reminded that 
pharmacy had for long ages been associated with the 
“ healing art,” and the difficulty is to ascertain the exact 
date when it had a separate existence. On that account 
we are obliged to consider our subject in its collective 
capacity, and try to follow it throughout the many 
changes which records of its history call to mind. 
From what we are able to gather, there has ever been 
a desire amongst the learned and unlearned to try the 
practice of this science. Here we must notice the fact 
that wherever ecclesiastical edifices of any importance 
existed, there the monks and members of the clergy were 
found pursuing the alchemical art, for the primary pur¬ 
pose of discovering that eagerly-sought-for prize, “ the 
philosopher’s stone,” which was to transmute all base 
metals into gold. That, of course, was a fruitless search, 
but it resulted in the discovery of much that was un¬ 
known in chemical science, so that these men, though in 
pursuit of so absurd an object, were unintentionally lay¬ 
ing the foundations of pharmacy, and are the reputed 
discoverers of some of those chemical preparations which 
hold no unimportant place in our day,—I refer to such 
substances as calomel, antimony, etc. 
We have, on the other hand, the herbalists,—he or 
she, as the case might be,—who practised the “healing 
art ” by the application of all manner of vegetable sub¬ 
stances. Here, also, mystery was carried to a great ex¬ 
tent. The place where such herbs grew, and the parti¬ 
cular ray of the sun or moon which must shine on them 
during the process of gathering, were all matters of the 
greatest importance; indeed, it was imagined that in¬ 
attention to such particulars would retard or destroy all 
the virtue these herbs were thought to possess. 
During the fifteenth century, however, a great change 
passed over Scotland and her capital. There was a re¬ 
formation in ecclesiastical matters, which extended to 
many other departments, and, amongst these, pharmacy 
had its share. A new generation of men sprung up, who 
appear to have held a position between the former ex¬ 
tremes, and who practised surgery in its ruder forms. 
To this, pharmacy was added as a necessary part; but, 
not content with that, they" were incorporated with the 
barbers,—to us a strange and laughable combination. 
Here we may notice that even to the present day-, some 
barbers exhibit a pole and plate above their door, the re¬ 
cognized sign in olden times that bleeding and bandaging 
were done by them. In our Council Register we are in¬ 
formed that, “ On the 5th day of July, 1505, the surgeons 
being the first company’ of craft in Edinburgh, they’, ac¬ 
cording to the custom of other European nations, were 
incorporated with the barbers, by" charter.” This re¬ 
cord or charter contains a full and particular account of 
their several duties and requirements. In one clause we 
find the following :—“That na person, man or women, 
within this burgh, mak or sell ony aqua vitia within the 
samyn, exceptis the said Maisters, Brithers and Free¬ 
man of the said craftis, under the payne of escheit of the 
samyn, but favour.” Thus we see whisky" was, in 1505, 
recognized as a pharmaceutical preparation, only to be 
made and sold by the surgeons. How strangely does 
the wisdom of our forefathers, in this respect, contrast 
with the foolishness of their sons! The above charter 
was confirmed by James IV., on the 13th of October, 1500, 
and Queen Mary, in consideration of the close and neces¬ 
sary attendance of the members of the Corporation on 
their patients and studies, did, by her letters patent of 
the 11th of May", 1567, exempt them from attending 
juries, watching and warding within the city and liber¬ 
ties of Edinburgh. These grants were confirmed by 
James VI., on the 6th of June, 1613, as they likewise 
