Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1890-02-07
OILS FROM MANY LANDS.
THE QUEER COLLECTION OF A
WASHINGTON DRUGGIST.
Oils Made From Cod Livers, Croco-
dilcs. Whales, Reptiles. Birds and
Bugs-Thcir Uses.

gist, i'll talk with Star reporter, said: {:
"All medical men agree that cod liver
oil Is wonderful strengthener; it acts
IN some mysterious way upon tho nu-
tritivc processes, so fur as to cause the
formation of healthy tissue and increases
tho size of tho rod "corpuscles in the
blood. have heard that the only. surc
cure for consumption is for tho patient to
go and live i'll tho Arctic regions with
tho Eskimo and feed almost exclusively
on blubbcr i'll long strips; so long as he
Is willing to maintain this regimen the
disease doesn't have show. Presuma-
bly, cod liver oil works in somewhat the
same way Us blubber. The only trouble
IL that, whereas you can cat unlimited
blubber, if you aro hungry enough and
there is nothing else, you cannot proilta-
bly, consume more than three tablespoon
fuls day of cod liver oil, inasn,uch ns il
will not DO assimiated. But those three
taislcspoonfuls do an astonishing amount
of good. II is often given externally by
rubbing ii into the patients skin, which
absorbs IT,"
"Whcrc docs the oil come from2"
"Thc Goldfish TINT supply the livcrs are
mostly caught off tho North Atlantic
const by means Of travis, which arc lines
miles in length with anchors at the ends,
floats ut intervals to hold them up and
hooks all along ut intervals of six feet,
baited twice day, when the game that
catches itself is taken of. The shallow
banks fur out Mt sea are the chief fishing
grounds, small boats being used to tend
tho travis. When vessel has II
load of cod it puts into Glou-
ccstcr, Boston or some other convenient
port. The fish il has caught have all
been split, cleaned md dried in the sun
at sea, If tho trip has been long one, for
thoy would not keep otherwise, and the
livcrs have been thrown into barrels on
deck to purify. Fishcrmon don't mind
bad smells. The processes of dcconlpO-
sition liberato some of the oil, which
riscs to the tops of the barrels and is
skinned off, to be subsequently sold M
fair article. Upon reaching land the
residue Ia disposed of to tho manufac-
turcrs who boil tho mess with water,
strain it, draw Oft the oil from the top
OF tho water, strain IL again and put It
up in TINT shape for market. But this
oil mado from dccomposcd livcrs is not
the supcrfinc stuff you sec in those bot
ties on the shelf. The first quality oil,
for medicinal purposes, must DC made
from fresh livcrs, brought by boats thnt
bring in fresh fish caught on short voy-
ages. The fresh livcrs, 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-ilsc muss of stcarin and
liver refuse, which is sold TO the soup
makers. The oil .lnis separated is then
ready for bottling. The very best cod
liver oil of all, however, is only made in
the winter; the cooked livcrs nrt frozen
solid and put in congealcd masses into
the bags, which nre then submitted to
pressure as in the other case"
"And how is one to tell good oil from
bad?"
every easily. The oil from really
fresh livcrs must be II very light yellow,
the lighter the better. Oil from dccom-
posed livcrs is brown, and the slightest
dark tingc is good evidence that the
livcrs were stale. The lighter the oil is
that is to sny, the frcsher the livers-
the less tasto it has, 30 that the finest
quality has scarce any disagrecablc flavor
Mt all. The darker the oil the nastier
its smell and the more nauscatinn its
taste, for obvious reasons. Some people
imagine that the brownish oil has
better effect, but that is nonsense, of
course. The brown oil is used for
leather dressing chiefly and to very
great extent. You will notice once in n
while u pair of boots that has II horrible |
smell like fish oil, and now you will |
know the reason why. Cod liver oil is |
adultcratcd and if it has much |
Of fishy smell you may reasonably sus.
pect it of having other fish oils combined
with it,"
every curious stuff, is it not2"
"Not nearly so curious as some other
'ils, of which we have small quantities
lerc in stock" said the apothecary. "In
his little bottle, for instance, is melon
'il, so called because its flavor re-
'cmblcs that of the musk melon-a &C.
,retion from the nose of the pilot whale.
t Is an admirable lubricant for delicate
MS is also this porpoise oil,
rom that mammals jaw bone, 10 much
lscd by watchmakers. The congealin0
,oint of melon oil is so low, by the way,
hat it remains liquid at zero, Fahren-
leit. And here is another queer oil,
rom the fat under the legs of the Indus
sivcr crocodile, the congealing point of
which is 80 high that it will freeze where
ce melts; it is famous leather dressing
have collected these oils for curiosity
axe, beginning with some kinds that
re supposed to have medicinal value.
or example, I have in this bottle about
our ounces of alligator oil, which is
luch used rs remedy for certain CON-
laints in Brazil, as well as for IAN
lumInant. The oil in the next vial to
he right is from the big sea sunfish, and
MS other is from the fat beneath the
irtle's upper shell; they are both recon-
lendcd for rheumatism. The oil in the
Mt bottle is tried out of the entrails of |