The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1889-11-08
AMERICAN coD-LlvER OIL
How and Where 1t Is Made-A FavOrit'
Remedy of COnsumptives.


Remedy of Consumptives.
American cod-liver oil. is made here.
The livers of the cod. paddock, pollock,
bake and cusk are used in the manu-
facture Only about One-third OF the
American output of this oil is procured
from cod-livers.
From September until March the
livers are fat and in the best condition.
A bucketful of livers will then yield
about six quarts of oil. Only four
quarts of this. however, can be made
suitable for medicinal purposes, the
remaining two quarts is OF an inferior
quality and is used by curriers'.
From March to June the livers are
thin and inferior, and will yield only
one-half as much oil. COd-liver Oil
for medicinal purposes must be, made
from livers of fish that have not been
dead over forty eight hours. Fishing
vessels on their long trips to the banks
save the fish-livers in hogsheads and
sell them to the oil-manufacturers for
thirty cents per bucketful. From these
livers an inferior quality of oil is made
that is used by tanners.
Up to about fifteen years ago the
most primitive means were used for
obtaining oil from livers. The results
were very unsatisfactory, and the best
portion of the liver was wasted. The
old method was to expose the livers to
the action of the sun until the oil was
dried out. Only small percentage OF
oil was thus secured, and the residue
was thrown away as useless. NOW
every portion of the liver is used. The
method is to put the livers into large
tin-lined vat having a coil Of perforat-
ed steam pipes in the bottom. A
pressure of thirty pounds of steam is
put on the boiler, and the steam escap-
ing through the perforations in the
pipes saturates the liver with hot
steam and thus fries out the oil. In
half an hour after steam is turned on
all the oil that can be procured by try
ing out will have arisen to the surface.
The livers, now termed "blubber,"
will have sunk to the bottom
of the vat. The oil is bailed off
and put into barrels to cool and
settle, after which it is refined by be-
ing allowed to freeze till it is of the
consistency of thick mush, when it is
put into drilling bags and the pure oil
pressed out in heavy iron press.
The oil that is pressed through
the drilling is considered re-
fined, and after being put up in
new barrels of forty-five gallons
each is sold to the wholesale druggists
for about Sc cents per gallon. From
these it passes to the retail druggists,
who sell it for 81 or SIS per gallon.
Running the oil through charcoal and
sand has been tried as refining proc
ess. but it was found to be vastly in
ferior to the freezing and pressing
process. Refined cOd-liver oil, when
subjected to the same temperature at
which the crude oil was frozen, will
change its color and assume a milky
appearance. The refining process
leaves in the bags a substance resem-
bling lard in color and consistency.
It is stearine, or tanners grease"
and is used as a dressing for morocco.
The blubber left in the bottom of the
vat after the trying out is allowed to
work and ferment for forty weight
hours, and is then pressed. After the
pressure is continued for fourteen
hours all the oil is secured that re-
mains in the blubber 1t is inferior
oil, of which there are six grades; it
is worth about Is cents per
gallon. and is used by curriers' in
dressing, tanning and coloring leather.
There is left in the bags a substance
of the color and consistency of dry
mud called scrap" which is sold to
farmers as fertilizer at SO per ton.
The best quality of cod-liver oil
comes from Norway. 1t is much
clearer and whittier than the American
OIL 1t is put up in tin casks holding
thirty gallons each, inclosed in wooden
barrels. The claim is made that no
livers except those of the Goldfish are
used in its manufacture, but American
manufacturers strongly suspect that it
owes its remarkable clearness to its
having been mixed with seal oil.
Twenty dollars per gallon is considered
a low price for this oil, and it some
times goes as high as 1923. America is
the largest buyer of Norwegian oil.
Newfoundland cod-liver oil ranks
next to the Norwegian oil. 1t is made
entirely of the livers of young cod
caught off the Labrador coast. Port
land has cod-liver oil factory that
produces 500 barrels per year-SOC
barrels OF refined oil for medicinal
purposes and 200 barrels of curriers'
OIL"
Cod-liver oil has long been recog-
nlzed as valuable remedial agent,
out 1t Is not generally known that
sometimes when the oil fails to effect
cure the steam arising from the
trying-out watts will succeed.
A consumptive here, in almost the
last stage OF the disease, happening to
pass through a cod-liver oil factory.
stopped, inhaled large draughts of the
usually offensive vapors as though
they were the sweets of aower-gar-
Gen. remarking: There is something
mere that seems to strike the right
spot, =" and, although a wealthy man,
obtained permission to work in the
factory. At the end of month he
had gained thirty pounds, had greatly
improved in appearance and feeling