Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-11-16

QUEER OILS FROM MANY LANDS.
Made From Cod Livers, Crocodiles,
Whales, Reptiles, Birds and Bugs.
This is the chilly season of the wear, when
the delicate chest of pretty Miss McFlmsy ex-
cites the apprehensions of her ever-solicitous
mamma, who calls in DR.. BoIdus. against the
young lady's protest, and that favorite physician
feels the little pulse, makes few smiling in
quries with that suave gentleness of manner
which has done more than anything else to
widen his practice among the women and pre-
scribes-cod liver OIL
There is always boom in the stuff about
October" said downtown apothecary to a
STAR reporter, pointing to a shelf filed with
big jars Of golden yellow liquid The first
cold weather brings shoals Of purchasers for it
people with weak lungs. thin blood or gen.
era1 debility. All medical men agree that cod
liver oil is n wonderful streng thener; il acts in
some mysterious way upon the nutritiye pro-
cesses, so as to cause the formation OF healthy
tissue and increases the size OF the red corpus
Giles in the blood | have heard that the only
sure cure for consumption is for the patient to
go and live in the Arctic regions with the Es-
kmo and feed almost exclusively on blubber
IN long strips; so long as he is willing
have show. Presumably cod liver oil works
In somewhat the same way blubber. The
only trouble Is that, whereas you can eat I'M
limited blubber, if you are hungry enough and
there Is nothing else, you cannot probably
consume more than three tablespoonfuls day
of cod liver oil, inasmuch as it will not be as
simulated. But those three tablespoonfuls do
an astonishing amount of good. 1t is often
given externally by rubbing it into the patients
skin, which absorbs it,
WHERE 1T COMES FROM.
"Where does the oil come from?'
"The Goldfish that supply the Gvers are mostly
caught off the North Atlantic coast by means of
travis which are lines miles in length with
anchors at the ends, floats at intervals to hold
them up and hooks all along at intervals Of 6
feet, baited twice day. when the game that
catches itself is taken off. The shallow banks
far out at the chief fishing grounds
small boats being used to tend the travis
When vessel has a load Of cod it puts into
Gloucester, Boston or some other convenient
port The fish it has caught have all been
split, cleaned and dried in the sun at sea. il the
trip has been long one for they would not
keep otherwise, aud the livers have been thrown
into barrels on deck to purify. Fishermen
don't mind bad smells. The processes Of de-
composition Hberate some of the oil, which
rises to the tops of the barrels and is
SKINNED off, to be subsequently sold
as fair article. Upon reaching land
the residue is disposed Of to the manu-
facturers, who boil the mess with water strain
it, draw off the oil from the top of the water.
strain it again and put it up in that shape for
market But this oil made from decomposed
livers is not the superfne stuff you see in those
bottles on the shelf The first-quality oil, for
medicinal purposes, must be made from fresh
livers, brought by boats that bring in fresh fish
caught on short voyages. The fresh livers,
upon the value Of which the fisherman count
for quite percentage Of their gains, are boiled
with water, then put into canvas bags and
pressed in hydraulic machines, until the pure
oil is all forced out through the fabric Of the
bags, leaving inside the bags tallow-like mass
of stearin and liver refuse, which is sold to the
soap makers. The oil thus separated is then
ready for bottling. The very best cod liver oil
of all, however, is only made in the winter; the
cooked Gvers are frozen solid and put in con-
gealed masses into the bags, which are then
submitted to pressure as in the other case"
GOOD AND BAD.
Sand how is one to tell good oil from bad?"
''Very easily. The oil from really fresh livers
must be a very light yellow, the lighter the
better Oil from decomposed hvers is brown,
and the slightest dark tinge is good evidence
that the livers were stale. The lighter the oil
is-that is to say, the fresher the livers-the
less taste it has, so that the finest quality has
scarce any disagreeable flavor at all. The
darker the oil the nastier its smell and the
more nauseating its taste, for obvious reasons.
Some people imagine that the brownish oil has
a better effect, but that is nonsense, of course
The brown oil is used for leather dressing
chiefly and to a very great extent. You will
notice once in a while a pair Of boots that has a
horrible smell like fish oil, and now you will
know the reason why. Cod liver oil is some
times adulterated, and if it has much of a
fshy smell you may reasonably suspect it Of
har fhar fch oil nd x,itA .
Every curious stuff, is it not2"
"Not nearly so curious as some other oils of
which we have small quantities here in stock"
said the apothecary. sin this little bottle, for
instance, is melon oil, SO called because its
flavor resembles that Of the musk melon-a
secretion from the nose Of the pilot whale. 1t
is an admirable lubricant for delicate
machinery, as is also this porpoise oil, from
that mammals jaw bone, so much used by
watch makers. The congealing point Of melon
oil is 30 low, by the way, that it remains LIQUID
at zero. Fahrenheit. And here is another queer
oil, from the fat under the legs Of the Indus
river crocodile, the congealing point Of which
is 80 high that it will freeze where ice melts;
it is famous leather dressing. have col
lected these oils for curiosity's sake, beginning
with some kinds that are supposed to have
medicinal value. For example, have in this
bottle about four ounces of alligator oil
which Is much used as remedy for
certain complaints in Brazil, as well as
the right is from the big sea suntish, and this
other is from the fat beneath the turtles up
per shell; they are both recommended for
rheumatism. The oil in the fat bottle is tried
out Of the entrails Of eels aud pickerel and
some folks believe that it is good TOR deafness
l had some oil from the fat Of the young
guacharo bird Of Ecuador, which people in
that country think il equal to olive oil for the
table, but, unfortunately, careless clerk Of
mine broke the bottle and have not been able
to get any more. The most interesting of all
the oils have here, however, is this pure
golden fluid, obtained by the natives Of Yucca
tan from an insect no bigger than q rose bug
that yields two-thirds of its weight in oil II
is called the ''niin," and feeds upon the sap Of
resinous plant, which is extensively Guilt
waited for the sake Of its parasite. The bugs
cling to the plants by their long beaks, making
the branches look as if they were driven full Of
queer-looking tacks. When they are tbickest
they are scrapsd OF by the bug farmers and
boiled Finally they are treated with ether in
some fashion, and the strained oil is used as Q
waterproof varnlsh and also for the mixing Of
pigments.
The Flapping Of Fly's Wing.
Erov q p~p hx,o =