THE 
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHARMACY. 
APRIL , 185 1. 
REM AUKS ON COD LIVER OIL. 
By William Procter, Jr. 
The extensive use now made of cod liver oil as a curative agent, 
both by the medical profession and by the people, renders infor- 
mation bearing on the subject sufficiently interesting to attract 
attention. Heretofore but little has appeared in the journals, 
throwing light on the cod liver oil manufacture and trade of our 
north-eastern coast, and it is almost a matter of surprise that so little 
knowledge of the subject should be in the possession of the nume- 
rous persons whose business it is to dispense daily this, at present, 
popular medicine. 
The essay of De Jongh in 1843, has made us acquainted with 
the fish liver oils used in Germany under the name of cod liver 
oil, and also with their complex chemical constitution, by 
several most difficult analyses. The general facts relating to 
the subject as ascertained by De Jongh will be found in a paper 
by Dr. Pereira, reprinted in vol. xxi, page 136 of this Journal. 
The three varieties of cod liver oil known in the commerce of 
this country are parallel with those described by De Jongh, viz : 
pale yellow, pale brown, and dark brown. The collectors of the 
oil, in the Baltic and German seas, do not appear to confine them- 
selves to the Gadus morrhua or true codfish, but the Gadus carbo- 
narius, (coal fish) Gadus callarius, (or dorse) and Gadus pollachius, 
(or pollack) all contribute to the product as furnished by the fish- 
ermen of the Norwegian coast. 
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