Page 30 - Spring2009

This fermented fish oil was undoubtedly the civi- This is continued up to the end of the season, when the men return home,
lized world’s first health elixir, reserved for the taking with them the barrels that they have filled. The first of these, it may
soldiers and nobility. It is said that the soldiers be noted, date from January, and the last from the beginning of April,
refused to march without their daily ration of and as on their arrival at their homes the fishermen have many things to
liquidum. arrange and settle, they seldom find time to open their liver barrels before
South Sea Islanders put great store in the month of May. By this time the livers are, of course, in an advanced
shark liver oil—enduring considerable danger state of putrefaction. The process of disintegration results in the bursting
to procure the sharks even though other, less- of the walls of the hepatic cells and the escape of a certain proportion of
dangerous-to-catch seafood was plentiful. To the oil. This rises to the top, and is drawn off.
prepare the oil, they put the livers inside the “Provided that not more than two or three weeks have elapsed from
leathery stomachs of the shark and hung them the closing of the barrel . . . to its being opened, and if during that time
in the trees for several months. As it ferments, the weather has not been too mild, the oil is of a light yellow colour, and
the oil gradually comes out of is termed raw medicinal
the livers and fills the hanging oil. As may be supposed,
stomachs! The yield is about however, very little oil of
one liter per shark. this quality is obtained.
A description of traditional Indeed, as a rule there is so
European cod liver oil process- little of it that the fishermen
ing is provided by F. Peckel do not take the trouble to
Möller in an article entitled collect it separately. Nearly
“Cod-Liver Oil and Chem- all the barrels yield an oil of
istry,” published in London, a more or less deep yellow
1895. “The primitive method. to brownish colour: this is
. . is as follows. As soon as the drawn off, and the livers
fishermen reach the Voer [pier], are left to undergo further
and finish separating the livers putrefaction. When a suf-
and roes, they sell the fish and ficient quantity of oil has
carry the livers and roes up Shark stomachs containing shark livers from Tahiti, hanging in again risen to the surface,
to their dwellings. In front of the trees to ferment. Photo courtesy Kay Baxter. the skimming is repeated,
these are ranged a number of and this process is continued
empty barrels into which the livers and roes are until the oil becomes a certain shade of brown. The product collected up
placed, separately of course. The fishermen do to this point is known as pale oil. . . . By this time the month of June has
not trouble to separate the gall-bladder from the generally been reached, and with the warmer weather the putrefaction is
liver, but simply stow away the proceeds of each considerably accelerated, and the oil now drawn off is of a dark brown
day’s fishing, and repeat the process every time colour, and is collected by itself. It is rather misleadingly called light brown
they return from the sea, until a barrel is full, oil. . . When no more can be squeezed out, the remainder is thrown into an
when it is headed up and a fresh one commenced. iron caldron and heated over an open fire. By this process, the last rests of

FROM A 1893 PHYSICIANS’ HANDBOOK

The Cottage Physician, published 1893 was “prepared by the best physicians and surgeons of modern practice.” It
contains an introduction by George W. Post, AM, MD, Profe ssor of the Practice of Medicine in the College of Physicians
and Surgeons, Chicago, Illinois.
According to the handbook, “Cod liver oil is obtained from the livers of the common cod fish. There are three varie-
ities according to the mode of extraction, known as pale, light brown and dark brown. . . the pale is the most palatable. .
. . as a remedy for consumption and other constitutional diseases of an exhausting nature, cod liver oil takes high rank. It
is really more of a food than a remedy, its power of producing fat is well known. In scrofulous diseases generally, hip joint
diseases, white swelling of the knee, caries of the spine, lumbar and psoas abcesses, rickets, etc., cod liver oil will nearly
always do good. It is also useful in skin diseases, some forms of eye troubles and syphilis. Young children who have grown
weak from diarrhoea in summer, and who seem unable to assimilate the food given them, can often be saved by rubbing
cod liver oil into their skin. The common dose of cod liver oil is from one to two tablespoons, three times daily.”
28 Wise Traditions SPRING 2009