COD-LIVER OIL (0/eum Morrhuw, or (ileum .Ie•ori.s Aselli). One of the most valuable thera peuti• agents at the disposal of the medical practitioner. It is a pale-yellow fixed oil, ob tained from the livers of the cod ( (Lmrns callarias) and of other related species of fish that are caught in the northern parts of the Atlantic Ocean. Cod-liver oil is a better food and is more rapidly absorbed than any other oil; its value as a food is due mainly to its being much more readily oxidized than other oils. The bene fit derived from it in disease associated with loss of flesh cannot be overestimated. It is given tuberculosis, in rickets, in tertiary syphilis, in chronic bronchitis, chronic eczema. in many nervous diseases, in general feebleness, etc. It should. however, be administered with sonic cau tion. and in moderate quantities, larger doses being liable to cause sickness and diarrhoea. In those eases in which the oil is rejected by the stomach, it may be rubbed into the skin. through which it is readily and certainly absorbed: this treatment is, of course, disagreeable on account of the nauseating smell of the oil. The taste
of the oil may be masked to sonic extent by tak ing it ill coffee or in whisky, or by adding to a dose of the oil a few drops of ether and a drop of oil of peppermint. The taste is completely abolished by taking the oil in soft gelatin cap sules now prepared by many manufacturing houses: after remaining in such capsules for some time, the oil turns rather dark. but does not seem to be thereby deteriorated. Cod-liver oil is often taken in the form of emulsions. An emulsion recommended by many medical men contains, besides cod-liver oil. the yolk of an ego-, powdered tragacanth. elixir of saccharin. sodium bicarbonate, tincture of benzoin. oil of hitter almonds. chloroform, alcohol. and water. With malt extract, too, cod-liver oil makes an excellent emulsion. The cornnum dose of the pure oil is from a dessert-spoonful to a table spoonful three times a day.