Am.  Jour.  Pbarm. 
July,  1890. 
Cod  Liver  Oil. 
369 
alcohol.  To  this  liquor,  exhausted  by  ether,  was  now  added  a  little 
sulphuric  acid,  and  the  following  acids  were  obtained  : 
(1)  A  remarkable  acid,  which  appears — especially  when  the 
liquor  is  heated  a  little — as  a  brown  viscous  mass,  slightly  soluble 
in  water,  having  a  disagreeable,  slightly  aromatic  odor,  recalling 
that  of  oils  derived  from  marine  algse.  It  solidifies  slowly  in  the 
cold  and  may  be  obtained  crystalline  after  purification.  The  authors 
have  named  it  morrhuic  acid. 
(2)  Upon  distilling  the  acidulated  liquor,  after  the  morrhuic  acid 
had  been  separated,  there  passed  over  a  mixture  of  formic  and 
butyric  acids. 
(3)  There  still  remained  in  the  liquor  (a)  a  small  quantity  of 
morrhuic  acid  in  solution,  removable  by  alcoholic  ether  when  the 
solution  had  been  evaporated  ;  (b)  a  certain  proportion  of  phosphoric 
acid,  derived  from  the  phosphates,  phosphoglycerates  and  lecithines 
of  the  oils;  (c)  a  little  sulphuric  acid  having  the  same  origin. 
(4)  These  various  acids  having  been  separated,  the  residue  was 
finally  precipitated  with  subacetate  of  lead.  After  having  filtered 
and  removed  the  lead  strong  alcohol  took  up  an  extract  having  a 
nauseous  odor.  In  the  fractions  of  this  extract  boiling  towards  1800 
in  vacuo,  the  presence  of  glycerin  was  determined  by  converting  it 
into  acrolein.  Glycerin,  therefore,  accompanies  phosphoric  acid  in 
the  complex  substances  removed  by  alcohol  from  cod  liver  oil,  being 
partially  combined  with  it,  for  after  neutralization  of  the  acid  extract 
with  lime  phosphoric  acid  again  makes  its  appearance  in  the  liquor 
if  it  be  boiled  with  a  mineral  acid.  Phosphoric  acid  and  glycerine 
are  in  fact  contained  in  these  oils  in  the  form  of  lecithines. 
The  foregoing,  with  traces  of  coloring  matters,  are  the  alkaline 
and  acid  constituents  separable  from  cod  liver  oil.  Among  them, 
only  butyric,  phosphoric  and  sulphuric  acid  had  been  noticed  before. 
The  special  constituent  which  communicates  to  cod  liver  oil  the 
characteristic  property  of  giving  a  fine  violet  color  when  treated  in 
the  cold  with  strong  sulphuric  acid  is  not  met  with  in  the  acidulated 
extract,  alcoholic  or  aqueous. 
Referring  to  the  properties  of  these  constituents,  the  authors  state 
that  butylamine,  in  sufficient  dose,  produces  in  animals  fatigue, 
stupor,  vomiting  and  a  certain  degree  of  paresia  ;  it  excites  the 
production  of  urine. 
The  amylamine  from  cod  liver  oil  is  a  very  active  base.    In  a 
