100 
REMARKS ON COD LIVER OIL. 
be true also that the finest fish approach the shore where the marine 
annelidae are more likely to abound than in the deeper sea beyond 
the imaginary line drawn along these coasts by the treaties of 
English statesmen. 
The American fishermen not having the same facilities, pos- 
sessing by treaty only the right to dry their fish on the unoccu- 
pied portions of the coast, and having necessarily much larger 
vessels engaged in the service, visit the drying stations at longer 
intervals, and from its comparatively small importance care little 
about the production of the white or pale yellow oil. In these fish- 
ing vessels, casks are suitably placed on deck, and as the fish are 
cleaned at sea, the offal is thrown overboard, whilst the livers 
are cast into the receptacles, where they accumulate for days 
and weeks, the tissues undergoing a gradual disintegration as the 
putrefactive process progresses, permitting the oil to escape, 
which, from its inferior density, gradually rises to the surface. 
The first oil that separates on the surface, before the process of 
putrefaction has fairly set in, is almost as sweet and pure as the 
shore oil, and constitutes the medium quality or straits oil, cor- 
responding with the pale brown oil of De Jongh. It commands 
a much better price than the brown oil. Its color is due par- 
tially to the oxidation of the gaduin by exposure to the air, and 
partly to contact with the bile constituents and decomposing 
tissues. 
The brown oil is made from the residues after the straits oil has 
been skimmed off" from the casks, or it may include the latter if 
the fishermen postpone its removal until it has too far deterio- 
rated by exposure. The brown oil is made just when it suits 
the convenience of the fishermen, and as they cannot do it 
aboard their vessels, the periods are longer or shorter according 
to their luck in fishing. The contents of the liver casks are 
removed to boilers, heated with some water, and thrown on strain- 
ers, that the oil and watery part may drain through. The oil 
is separated, heated to free it from water, and put into barrels 
for commerce. 
Shore oil, correctly speaking, is the kind made on the coast 
from fresh livers, before they have had time to change, and ap- 
plies as much to the bank oil so made, as to that produced along 
