REMARKS ON COD LIVER OIL. 
105 
ed, especially if the oil is taken two or three hours after meals, 
instead of just before or after them. 
Still another objection to the emulsive preparations of this medi- 
cine is the following. Cod- liver oil has a strong tendency to ab- 
sorb oxygen, to become rancid, and to acquire the odor and taste 
of lamp-oil. By admixture with water in an emulsion, this ten- 
dency is greatly increased, so much so, that by the time a bottle 
is consumed the last portions are sometimes exceedingly disa- 
greeable. 
When the oil is in its purest and freshest condition, compara- 
tively little objection is made to it by the large majority of patients, 
and it should be the aim of Pharmaceutists not only to encourage 
the production of carefully made oil, but they should give much 
more attention to its preservation, than has heretofore been ex- 
tended. 
Preservation of Medicinal Cod Liver Oil. — As soon as manu- 
factured, the oil is introduced into barrels, which are securely 
bunged and nearly full. If these barrels are tight, and pure at 
first, there is no difficulty in keeping the oil in good condition for 
a year at least, as Mr. Hubbell has ascertained by trial. But what 
are the facts: — A druggist buys a barrel of the oil in many in- 
stances, and commences its sale by the removal of a few gallons, 
thus admitting the air to a larger surface with each removal of the 
oil, which is thereby becoming more and more deteriorated, es- 
pecially if slow demand lengthens the period required in the 
disposition of the barrel. The same remark applies to the retail 
druggist and apothecary. He buys say a gallon or two of the 
oil, keeps it in the same vessel, until he has retailed it out in 
small quantities. 
Now the true course to pursue, is for the druggist when he opens 
a barrel to fill it into tin cannisters to suit the wants of his cus- 
tomers, the apothecaries, and seal these securely. The apothecary 
should at once on buying a cannister, bottle the oil in quantities 
to suit the demands of his neighborhood, and he had better assume 
the extra trouble of opening a bottle, when purchasers bring 
vessels of their own for the oil, than not pursue this course. 
With these precautions in the wholesale and retail dealer, cod 
liver oil may be preserved in its best condition for a long time, 
and if it really merits the high encomiums which have been passed 
