An Oily Bookmark

by

Lauren Roberts

THE value of this agent in the treatment of many constitutional diseases is amply confirmed by long experience. It should be regarded as food rather than medicine, although the minute amount of iodine it contains may account for its curative virtues in many cases in which cod-liver-oil has been the only remedy given.

As a vehicle, cod-liver-oil may be taken in claret. The oil should be poured upon the wine, so that it does not touch the glass, but be floated on it as a large globule. It may then be swallowed without taste. A few morsels of agreeable food may then be eaten. In this way the most capricious person may take the oil without any discomfort. Another plan to obviate taste and prevent nausea is to take a pinch of salt immediately before and after the oil. many cases in which cod-liver-oil has been the only remedy given.

        Edward Harris Ruddock
        The Homoeopathic Vade Mecum of Modern Medicine and Surgery (1871)

Ask anyone from my parents’ generation about cod liver oil and the most likely result is a face scrunched up in memory at the distaste. Cod liver oil, sold at that time by the bottle, was a nasty-tasting liquid forced on many children by their mothers who were convinced by doctors that it was necessary for good health. It turns out that the they were right, though today fish oil is put into water-soluble capsules to make it tasteless. It’s a good thing too because why should a fine claret be wasted for disguising the taste.

Edward Harris Ruddock, the author of the book quoted above, had ties not only to the cod oil industry but to Moller’s in particular. Little wonder, then, that he promoted the product in as palatable a way as possible.  But Ruddock wasn’t alone in his thinking about the benefits of cod liver oil. The Encyclopedia Britannica of 1911 was equally enthusiastic.

COD-LIVER OIL (Oleum Morrhuae, or Oleum Jecoris Aselli), the oil obtained from the liver  of the common cod (Gadus morrhua). In the early process for extracting the oil the livers were allowed to putrefy in wooden tubs, when oils of two qualities, one called “pale oil,” and the other “light brown oil,” successively rose to the surface and were drawn off. A third oil was obtained by heating the liver-residues to above the boiling-point of water, whereupon a black product, technically called "brown oil," separated. The modern practice consists in heating the perfectly fresh, cleaned livers by steam to a temperature above that of boiling water, or, in more recent practice, to a lower temperature, the livers being kept as far as possible from contact with air. The oils so obtained are termed “steamed-liver oils.” The “pale” and “light brown” oils are used in pharmacy; the “brown” oil, the cod oil of commerce, being obtained from putrid and decomposing livers, has an objectionable taste and odour and is largely employed by tanners. By boiling the livers at a somewhat high temperature, “unracked” cod oil is obtained, containing a considerable quantity of “stearine”; this fat, which separates on cooling, is sold as “fish “stearine” for soapmaking, or as “fish- tallow” for currying. The oil when freed from the stearine is known as “racked oil.” “Coast cod oil” is the commercial name for the oil obtained from the livers of various kinds of fish, e.g hake, ling, haddock, &c. The most important centres of the cod-liver oil industry are Lofoten and Romsdal in Norway; the oil is also prepared in the United States, Canada, Newfoundland, Iceland and Russia; and at one time a considerable quantity was prepared in the Shetland Islands and along the east coast of Scotland.

Cod-liver oil contains palmitin, stearin and other more complex glycerides; the “stearine” mentioned above, however, contains very little palmitin and stearin. Several other acids have been identified . . . Therapic and jecoleic acids apparently do not occur elsewhere in the animal kingdom, and it is probable that the therapeutic properties of the oil are associated with the presence of these acids, . . . Its only objection is the odour which the patient exhales. When taken by the mouth, cod-liver oil shares with other liver-oils the property of ready absorption. It often causes unpleasant symptoms, which must always be dealt with and not disregarded, more harm than good being done if this course is not followed. Fortunately a tolerance is soon established in the majority of cases. It has been experimentally proved that this is more readily absorbed than any other oil—including other liver-oils.

Cod-liver oil may be given in all wasting diseases, and is occasionally valuable in cases of chronic rheumatoid arthritis; but its great therapeutic value is in cases of tuberculosis of whatever kind, and notably in pulmonary tuberculosis or consumption. Its reputation in this is quite inexpugnable. It is essential to remember that “in phthisis the key of the situation is the state of the alimentary tract,” and the utmost care must be taken to obviate the nausea, loss of appetite and diarrhoea, only too easily induced by this oil. It is best to begin with only one dose in the twenty-four hours, to be taken just before going to sleep, so that the patient is saved its unpleasant "repetition" from an unaccustomed stomach. In general, it is therefore wise to order a double dose at bedtime. The oil may be given in capsules, or in the form of an emulsion, with or without maltextract, or success may be obtained by adding, to every two drachms of the oil, ten minims of pure ether and a drop of peppermint oil. The usual dose, at starting, is one or two drachms, but the oil should be given eventually in the largest quantities that the patient can tolerate.

So where and when did the idea of adding cod liver oil to the diet begin? Its reported use first began around 1645 when it was noted that cod liver oil could be used to prevent and cure disease. The first scientific article that supported this idea was published at the end of the eighteenth century. However, people in northern Europe countries—Scotland, Iceland,  Norway—had been using it to protect themselves from the intense cold as well as to treat complaints of rheumatism, aching joints, and stiff muscles for more than 1,000 years. Its Norse name was lysi meaning light—as well as tanning skins, and the manufacture of paint and soap. It was Norway’s most valuable commodities.

A description of the early process was later described in an article by F. Peckel Möller and published in London in 1895. Titled “Cod-Liver Oil and Chemistry,” it ran:

The primitive method . . . is as follows. As soon as the fishermen reach the Voer [pier], and finish separating the livers and roes, they sell the fish and carry the livers and roes up to their dwellings. In front of these are ranged a number of empty barrels into which the livers and roes are placed, separately of course. The fishermen do not trouble to separate the gall-bladder from the liver, but simply stow away the proceeds of each day’s fishing, and repeat the process every time they return from the sea, until a barrel is full, when it is headed up and a fresh one commenced. This is continued up to the end of the season, when the men return home, taking with them the barrels that they have filled. The first of these, it may be noted, date from January, and the last from the beginning of April, and as on their arrival at their homes the fishermen have many things to arrange and settle, they seldom find time to open their liver barrels before the month of May. By this time the livers are, of course, in an advanced state of putrefaction. The process of disintegration results in the bursting of the walls of the hepatic cells and the escape of a certain proportion of the oil. This rises to the top, and is drawn off.

Provided that not more than two or three weeks have elapsed from the closing of the barrel . . . to its being opened, and if during that time the weather has not been too mild, the oil is of a light yellow colour, and is termed raw medicinal oil. As may be supposed, however, very little oil of this quality is obtained. Indeed, as a rule there is so little of it that the fishermen do not take the trouble to collect it separately. Nearly all the barrels yield an oil of a more or less deep yellow to brownish colour: this is drawn off, and the livers are left to undergo further putrefacton. When a sufficient quantity of oil has again risen to the surface, the skimming is repeated, and this process is continued until the oil becomes a certain shade of brown. The product collected up to this point is known as pale oil. . . . By this time the month of June has generally been reached, and with the warmer weather the putrefaction is considerably accelerated, and the oil now drawn off is of a dark brown colour, and is collected by itself. It is rather misleadingly called light brown oil. . . When no more can be squeezed out, the remainder is thrown into an iron caldron and heated over an open fire. By this process, the last rests of oil are extracted from the hepatic tissues, which float about in the oil like hard resinous masses. . . . In order to fully carry out the extraction, it is necessary to raise the temperature considerably above the boiling point of water. . . . The oil prepared in this way is very dark, almost black, and with a greenish fluorescence in reflected light. In thin layers and by transmitted light it shows a brown colour, and it is therefore termed brown oil. . .

Möller’s, the name of the firm on this bookmark, had its origins in 1854 when pharmacist Peter Möller noticed that people along the coast who consumed the oil regularly were rarely ill. He developed the method of heat melting—using steam to extract the oil from the fresh cod livers—in lined cauldrons, though these were later replaced with conical oak barrels. Not one to miss a drop of precious oil, the reside of the livers were then squeezed in a liver press before the livers were sent on to be incorporated into cattle feed or fertilizer.

Möller, recognizing that the flavor was not congenial to people who hadn’t grown up on it, took pains to try and neutralize it. Perhaps my father’s mother didn’t use Möller’s Cod Liver Oil because the company actually won the only god medal (amongst 43 competitors) at the Paris Exhibition of 1878. “All the year round he employs there 30 men and 20 women, and in the fishing season from 300 to 400 extra hands. The benefactor of consumptive Invalids and puny children has a special method for clarifying the oil taken from the cod’s liver while it is fresh. What was freshly opened had no taste of any sort.”

It must have had something going for it because Möller’s Cod Liver Oil and the company are still a viable entity today. (In fact, this product, though not necessarily Möller’s, actually has a song written about it: “.”)

But is it good for you? My admittedly limited research shows the debate is  going strong. According to a 2008 article in The Medscape Journal of Medicine titled “Mother Was Right About Cod Liver Oil,” George T. Griffing, MD noted that “cod liver oil contains large amounts of vitamins A, D, and omega-3 fatty acids, and the health benefits may go beyond rheumatism and rickets” and offer protection against cardiac diseases. Yet that same year National Public Radio ran an interview with Dr. Sydney Speisel (pediatrician and professor, Yale Medical School) who noted dangers that lay in cod liver oil, specifically the excess of Vitamin A. Then in the UC Berkeley Wellness newsletter, another piece of alarm over excess Vitamin A was also noted:

No solid research has ever shown that cod liver oil prevents cancer, Alzheimer’s, or depression, but there is some evidence that fish oil, including cod liver oil, can ease the pain of arthritis and improve joint stiffness. But fish oil supplements can pose dangers. They can increase the risk of hemorrhagic stroke, and people taking anticoagulants should not take them.

Cod liver oil, bottled or in capsule form, has its own special problems. It is the richest source of vitamins A and D. Just one teaspoon of cod liver oil has 4,500 IU of A, for instance, and the standard dose is one to three teaspoons a day. Capsules of cod liver oil contain less oil, but the vitamin can still add up, especially on top of the amount you get from foods and from a multivitamin, if you take one. Recent studies have found that as little as 6,000 IU of vitamin A daily can interfere with bone growth and promote fractures. And women of childbearing age should not exceed 10,000 IU of vitamin A because of the risk of birth defects. Cod liver oil is made from livers, of course. The liver is a filter, so toxins (such as PCBs) get concentrated there. Thus cod liver oil is more likely to be contaminated than other fish-oil supplements.

If you want to try fish oil supplements, avoid cod liver oil—and talk to your doctor first.

I am sure that the recommendations against cod liver oil would please my father. Even eight years after he had to take it he still remembers the vile taste. And while that taste has been neutralized through flavorings and capsule forms, it is not something he’d ever try again, or make his children try.

Still, the bookmark is gorgeous. I actually have two of them. The first one was missing its tail, not surprisingly since that is the part of the bookmark most prone to breakage. I still have it, but the second one I found—shown at the top of the article—is my favorite. It did come with the tail, though it had already broken off. In trying to scan it for this piece, I didn’t get the two pieces to come together as well as I had hoped. But  at least you can see this handsome representation of a die-cut bookmark that was a common advertising vehicle when companies still put effort and art into their giveaways.

Bookmark specifications: Möller’s Cod Liver Oil
Dimensions: 5" x 1"
Material: Paper
Manufacturer: Möller’s
Date: Early to mid-twentieth century
Acquired: eBay

Almost since her childhood days of Mother Goose, Lauren has been giving her opinion on books to anyone who will listen. That “talent” eventually took her out of magazine writing and into book reviewing in 2000 for an online review site where she cut her teeth (as well as a few authors). Stints as book editor for her local newspaper and contributing editor to Booklist and Bookmarks magazines has reinforced her belief that she has interesting things to say about books. Lauren shares her home with several significant others including three cats, nearly 1,300 bookmarks and approximately 1,200 books that, whether previously read or not, constitute her to-be-read stack. She is a member of the National Books Critics Circle (NBCC) as well as a longtime book design judge for Publishers Marketing Association’s Benjamin Franklin Awards. Contact Lauren.