John Savory

“ In females, also, whose powers had been much depressed by frequent parturition, and in whom debility towards the decline of life prevailed to a great degree, it has served to produce the happiest effects. And, in all the cases, in which it has been attended with benefit, it has uniformly been remarked that the consequences produced by the exhibition of the oil have been to occasion an increase of power, size, and general fatness. ”

“ Bardsley, writing in 1807, however, gives his testimony to the efficiency of cod-liver oil in cases of chronic rheumatism, and says, “In some instances, where every other means have proved unsuccessful, it has operated in a manner so decidedly beneficial as to excite astonishment.” In many cases, however, of a mild description, it has not been of any advantage. In the chronic rheumatism of aged persons, in whom the muscles and their tendons have acquired great rigidity, so that the joints have become almost [12] inflexible, it was found to be most serviceable. ”

“ The well-ascertained effects of iodine in the relief of scrophulous diseases point out that substance as the immediate agent affording relief in those cases, but it has been ascertained that the quantity of iodine in the cod-liver oil is exceedingly small, being much beneath that which is ordinarily given in the treatment of scrophulous disorders, and without effect in those cases ”

“ That cod-liver oil should produce fatness, [15] will not occur as remarkable to any one who looks at its composition, the principal ingredient of which consists of carbon; this is present in all oils to a great degree, and it therefore offers a very valuable aid in cachectic cases, and others of diminished power and general weakness ”

“ So offensive was it found to be, that it was, in many instances, rendered necessary to combine it into the form of a liquid soap, and it is not too much to assert, that the efficiency of it as a remedy must have been, in no inconsiderable degree, impaired by the formulæ to which it was reduced.
Mr. Darbey, the house surgeon of the infirmary, in a letter to Dr. Percival, states the discovery of the effects of cod-liver oil to have been accidental, and to have occurred in a patient who, using it externally, was induced also to take some of it internally. ”

“ If the oil be pure and freed from all extraneous matters, and the livers from which it is procured be in a recent and not in a putrid state, there is little apprehension as to any disagreeable effects following its exhibition ”

“ In cases of trying emergency, when medical assistance is not at hand, it will be found a safe guide, the symptoms of diseases being clearly defined, and their appropriate remedies plainly pointed out.”—Essex Standard. ”