THE 
AMERICAN  JOURNAL  OF  PHARMACY, 
JANUARY,  1854. 
ON  COD  LIVER  OIL. 
By  Edward  H.  Robinson,*  of  Nova  Scotia. 
Cod  Liver  Oil  is  derived  from  several  species  of  the  Gadus 
family,  which  frequent  the  Northern  Atlantic  Ocean,  in  all  parts 
where  the  climate  is  cold,  or  temperate,  and  where  a  sufficiency 
of  its  proper  food  may  be  found. 
The  great  bank  of  Newfoundland,  extending  for  many  miles 
from  shore,  and  abounding  in  food  of  a  suitable  kind,  affords  the 
most  agreeable  resort  to  these  animals.  They  are  found  therein 
vast  shoals  at  all  seasons  of  the  year,  though  more  abundantly 
from  about  the  beginning  of  June,  till  the  latter  part  of  Novem- 
ber, at  which  season  the  supply  of  their  peculiar  food  (which  is 
the  cuttle  fish,)  is  most  plentiful.  They  likewise  inhabit  the  bays 
and  shores  of  Nova  Scotia,  New  Brunswick,  and  of  the  Northern 
States  of  the  Union,  affording  to  the  inhabitants  of  those  parts, 
not  only  an  inexhaustible  supply  of  wholesome,  nutritious,  and 
palatable  food,  but  also  the  procuring  of  them  for  the  supply  of 
the  world  gives  employment  to  many  thousands  of  persons,  who 
otherwise  would  scarcely  be  able  to  obtain  the  necessaries  of  life, 
from  the  barren  and  rocky  nature  of  the  country  they  inhabit. 
There  are  several  varieties  of  the  Gadus  tribe  which  afford  the 
oil  of  commerce.  Gadus  Morrhua,  or  the  common  cod,  is  the 
species  from  which  the  officinal  oil  is  procured.  This  fish  is  from 
two  to  five  feet  in  length,  the  head  being  rather  large  in  propor- 
tion to  the  body ;  the  back  is  spotted,  and  covered  with  small 
shining  scales;  the  head  is  smooth,  and  without  scales.  This 
species,  besides  furnishing  the  officinal  oil,  is  the  most  valuable  as 
an  article  of  commerce. 
*  This  paper  is  part  of  an  Inaugural  Essay  submitted  to  the  Faculty  of  the 
University  of  Pennsylvania,  Eeb.  22d,  1853, 
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