The San Saba news. [volume] (San Saba, Tex.) 1873-1966, 1890-01-17
COD LIVER OIL.
HOW 1T is MANUFACTURED AND
REFINED.
Extracted From the Livers of Va
riety of Fish, and Afterwards
Refined by Charcoal, Freez-
ing and Pressure.

A correspondent from the coast of
Maine describes the making of cod liver
oil. He says besides the ivers of the
cod those Of the haddock, pollock, hake
and cusk are used, so that only about
one-third of what is produced in the
United States and sold as the oleaginous
substance of the cod is genuine.
This correspondent says further that
up to about fifteen years ago the most
primitive means were used for obtaining
| oil from ivers. The result was very I'M
satisfactory, and the best portion of the
livers were wasted. The old method was
/ to expose the livers to the action of the
sun until the oil was dried out. Only a
small percentage of oil was thus secured,
ana the residue was thrown away as use
less. Now every portion Of the liver is
used. The method is to put the livers
into large tin-lined vat having coil Of
perforated steam pipes in the bottom.
4 pressure of thirty pounds of steam is
put on the boiler, and the steam escap-
ing through the perforstions in the pipes
saturates the livers with hot steam and
thus tries out the oil. In half an hour
after steam is turned on all the oil that
can be procured by trying out viii have
risen to the surface. The ivers, 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 letting it
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 refined, and after
being put up in new barrels of forty-fve
gallons each is sold to the wholesale
druggists for about thirty-six cents per
gallon. From these it passes to the re-
tail druggists, who sell it for four and
five dollars per gallon. Running the oil
through charcoal and sand has been tired
as refining process, but it was found to
be vastly inferior to the freezing and
pressing process. Refined cod liver oil,
when subjected to the temperature at
which the crude oil was frozen, will
change its color and assume a milky ap-
pearance. The refining process leaves IN
the bags a substance resembling lard in
color and consistency. 1t is stearine, or
.'tanner's greese, and is used as dress
ing for morocco.
The blubber left IN the bottom of the
vat, after the trying out, is allowed to
work and ferment for forty-eight hours,
aud is then pressed. After the pressure
has continued for fourteen hours all the
oil is secured that remains in the blubber.
It is inferior oil, of which there are six
grades; it is worth about twenty-five
cents per gallon, and is used by curriers'
in dressing, tanning and coloring leather.
There Is left in the bags substance of
the color aud consistency of dry mud
called 'scrap," which is sold to farmers
as fertilizer at nine dollars per ton.
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
medical 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
hogs heads and sell them to the oil man
ufacturers for thirty cents per bucketful
From these livers an inferior quality of
oil is made, taat is used for tanners.
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 inits manufacture,
but American manufacturers strongly
suspect that it owes its remarkable clear
ness to its having been mixed with seal
oil Twenty dollars per gallon is con-
sidered a low price for this oil, and it
sometimes goes as high as S2S. America
is the largest buyer of Norwegian OIL
Newfoundland cod liver oil ranks next
to the Norwegian OIL 1t is made entire
ly of the livers Of young cod caught off
the Labrador coast. Portland has a cod
lirar oil factory that produces 500 bar
rels a year-300 barrels OF refined oil for
medicinal purposes and 200 barrels of
''currier's" OIL
Cod liver oil has long been recognized |
as a valuable remedial agent, but 1t is not
generally known that sometimes when
the oil fails to effect a cnre the steam
arising from the tryingo out vat will sue
oeed.
A consumptive, in almost the last
stages of the disease, happening to pass
through a cod liver oil factory, stopped, /
inhaled large draughts of the usually of
fensive varcrs as though they were the /
--eets of a flower garden, remarling
There is something here 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 feel
ing, his appetite had returned, his cough |
was gone, and finally he completely re-
covered. Singers also sometimes resort
to cod liver oil factories to inhale the
fumes arising from the vats They assert
II. u .