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COD LIVER OIL.
Tke Method of Procuring This
Oleaginous Medicine.
Consumption Often Cured by
Inhaling the Factory Fumes.
American cod liver off is made at
Portland Me. The livers of the co*.,
haddock, hake and cusk are used in the
manufacture. Only about one-third of
the American output of this oil is pro
cured from cod livers.
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 medicinal purposes; the re
maining 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 48 hours. Fjshing vessels on their
long trips to the banks save the fish
livers in hogsheads and sell them to the
oil manufacturers for 30 cents per
bucketful. From these livers au infe
rior quality of oil is made that is used
by tanners.
Up to about fifteen years ago the
most primitive means were used for ob
taining oil from livers. The results
were very unsatisfactory, and the best
portion of the livers was 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, and the residue
was thrown away as useless. Now
every portion of the liver is used. The
method is to put the livers into a large
tin-lined vat having a coil of perforated
steam pipes at the bottom. A pressure
of thirty pounds of steam is put on the
boiler, and the steam escaping through
the perforations 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 will have
arisen to the surface. The livers, now
termed “blubber,” will have sunk to
the bottom of the vat. The oil is bailed
off and put into barrels to cool and set
tle, after which it is refined by being al
lowed to freeze till it is of the con
sistency of thick mush, when it is put
into dlilting bags and the pure oil
pressed out in a heavy iron press, The
oil that is pressed through the drilling
is considered refined, and after being
put up in new barrels of forty-five gal
lons 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 $4 or $5
per gallon. Running the oil through
charcoal and sand has been tried as a
refining process, but it was foun l to be
vastly inferior to the freezing and press
ing process. Refined cod liver ,oil,
when subjected to the same 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. It is stcarine,
or “tanner’s grease,” and is used as a
dressing 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,
and is then pressed. After the pressure
has continued for fourteen hours all the
oil is secured that remains in the blub
ber; it is inferior oil of which there aro
six grades. It is worth about twenty
live cents per gallon, and is used by
curriers in dressing, tanning and color
ing leather. There is left in the bags
a substance of the color and consistency
of dry mud called “scrap” which is
sold to farmers as a fertilizer at $9 per
ton.
The best quality of cod liver oil
comes from Norway. It is much clearer
and whiter than tho American oil. It
is put up in tin casks holding 30 gal
lons each, enclosed in wooden barrels.
The claim is made that no livers except
those of the codfish are used in its
manufacture, but American manufac
turers strongly suspect that it owes its
remarkable clearness to its having been
mixed with seal oil. Twenty dollars
per gallon is considered a low price for
this oil, and it sometimes goes as high
as $28. America is tho largest buyer of
Norwegian oil.
Newfoundland cod liver oil ranks
next to the Norwegian oil. It is made en
tirely of the livers of young cod caught
SCHLEY COUNTY NEWS.
off the Labrador coast, Portland has a
cod liver oil factory that produces 530
barrels per year—300 barrels of refined
oil for medicjnal purposes and 200 bar
rels of “curriers’ oil.”
Cod liver oil has long been recognized
as a valuable remedial agent, but it is
not generally known that sometimes
when the oil fails to effect a cure the
steam arising from the frying-out vats
will succeed.
A consumptive here, in almost the
last stage of the disease, happening to
pass through a cod liver oil factory,
stopped, inhaled large draughts of the
usually offensive vapors as though they
were the svreets of a flower garden, re
marking: “There is something here that
seems to strike the right spot,” and,
although a wealthy man, obtained per
mission to work in the factory. At the
end of a month he had gained thirty
pounds, had greatly improved in ap
pearance and feeling, his appetite had
returned, his cough was gone, and
finally he complelcly recovered. Sing
ers also sometimes resort to cod liver oil
factories to inhale the fumes arising
from the vats. They assert that their
voices are thereby strengthened and
cleared ,—New York Sun.
The Dead Sea.
The Dead Sea is one of the most re
markable phenomena on the earth. The
Bible calls it the Salt Sea, or Sea of the
Plain, the Greeks the Lake of Asphalt
and the Dead Sea, while the Arabs
know it as Bahr Lut, or Sea of Lot,
preserving the memory of the tragic ca
tastrophe which occurred on its shores.
According to the old traveler Maun
drell, the name Dead Sea is derived
from the fact that it moveth not, but is
ever still. A modern traveler says it is
the least dead of anything he knew.
On the day of my visit it was greatly
agitated—its high and angry waves
crested with foam. For other reasons
it deserves the title. Not a shrub
grows on its shores. Not a fish dwells
in its brackish waters. Not a boat
floats upon its surface. Here and there
on the beach lies the dead trunk of a
tree, brought dowu by the Jordan, but
thrown up by the unwilling lake. Irby
and Mangles tried to light one of these
pieces of driftwood, but in vain, on ac
count of the impregnation of salt. The
old tradition that birds could not fly
over the water and live was a mistake.
The lake is the deepest depression on
the surface of our coutinents, being
1,300 feet below the Mediterranean and
600 below the Lake of Galilee. It is
47 miles long and 10 wide, covering
three times the area of the northern
lake. The water is intensely brackish
and bitter, containing 21 pec cent of
salt, which Dr. D iwson says is not
common salt, but mostly the chloride
and bromide of magnesium and calcium.
There are hot, salt anl sulphur springs
in the hills along its eastern and
western shores. The lake has no out
let, but receives the sweet current of
the Jordan, which pours 6,000,000 tons
of water daily into its deadly and insa
tiate bosom.— Ye io York Mail and Ex
press.
Iowa’s Walled Lake.
The greatest wonder in the State ol
Iowa, and perhaps any State, is what is
called the “Walled Lake, in Wright
County, twelve miles north of the Du
buquo and Pacific Railway, and 150
miles west of Dubuque City. The lake
is from two to three feet higher than
the earth’s surface. In some places the
wall is ten feet high, fifteen feet wide
at the bottom, and five feet wide on
top. The stones used in its construc
tion vary in weight from three tons
down to a hundred pounds, There is
an abundance of stones in Wright
County, but surrounding the lake to the
exlent of five or ten miles there aro
none. No one can form an idea as to
the means employed to bring them to
the spot or who constructed it. Arouud
the entire lake is a belt of woodland
half a mile in width, composed of oak.
With this exception the country is a
rolling prairie. The trees must have
been planted there at the time of the
budding of tho wall. In the Spring of
the year 1856 there was a great storm,
and the ice on tho lake broke the wall
in several places, and tho farmers in the
vicinity were compelled to repair the
damages to prevent inundation. The
lako occupies a surface of 2800 acres;
depth of water as great as twenty-five
feet. The water is clear and cold, soil
sandy and loamy. It is singu ar that
no one has been able to ascertain •where
the water comes from nor where it goes,
yet it is always clear and fresh.
THE BIRCH TREE.
The Various Substances That
Are Derived From It
dstilling Therefrom the Fra
grant Oil of Wintergreen*
A casual glance at the surroundings
of any timber country, notably along
the creeks and ravines, reveals the fact
that at least some biich twigs have
withstood the onslaught of country
pedagogues, who from times remote
have been identified with the legend of
birch oil and elbow grease as an accelera
tor to the sluggish school hoy as he
stumbles along over the obstacles on
the side of science hill. Many twigs
remain, and outside their legendary his
toric value suggested in the foregoing,
the twigs and bark of the common
birch (Betula alba) have really an in
trinsic value not second to many of the
most valuable plants.
Even the leaves and young shoots
secrete a resinous substance, having au
acid reaction, which, under the long
legged names of the pharmacist, is sold
as a medicinal preparation for as high
as $16 per fluid ounce. The inner bark
secretes a bitterish alkaloid not unlike
cinchona in its nature, and is used
largely as an adulterant for quinine in
many parts of Europe. The so-called
“Cinchona Mixture” has been found by
analysts to consist, in many instances,
of the alkaloid found in the inner bark
of the humble bi rch tree.
The outer bark, subjected to dry dis
tillation, yields a peculiar empyreumatic
oil, having the peculiar odor of Russia
leather, and the secret of preparing
skins, and that, too, of the very poores
quality of skins, being taken from cat,
tie that have perished on those barront
desolate plains, is the only obstacle,
thus far, to prevent American artisans
competing with Russia and Austria in
fine leather goods.
It is not necessary, however, to go
into chemical technicalities and details
in order to arrive at a profitable solution
of the uses of birch twigs and birch
bark, when the larger timber is being
cut away and hauled to the sawmill or
the turning lathe. When it is stated
that the oil of wintergreen (Oleum
gaultheria), so useful, fragrant and ex
pensive, is nearly always adulterated
with birch oil; much of it even is birch
oil, pure and simple, but is sold as win
tergreen oil, and is wintergreen oil to
all intents and purposes, having, when
properly prepared and refined, the same
propert es, viz., specific gravity, 1.173;
boiling point, 412 degrees, and mixes
readily with alcohol, chloroform, etc.
The appliances necessary for the
preparation of this oil are neither intri
cate nor costly, being simply a large
tub supplied with a coil and steam con
nection. Of course we are not expected
to go into all the details of manufac
ture. Only brief outlines can be given.
The birch limbs, twigs, bark and
even the leaves, if a mere commercial
oil is to be made, are gathered and
placed in this large tub containing the
coil for steam heating and as fast as the
mass accumulates it is kept covered
with water, and the tub, being sup
plied with a tight-fitting lad or man -
hole, should bo opened as lit
tle as possible. After becoming nearly
full, steam is turned on, and the batch
kept about blood warm for 24 hours.
This will di.ssolvo nearly all the oil and
resinous matters, which, being precipi
tated, causes the mass to assume a very
sticky coasistcncy. Steam may now be
turned on, and the mass brought to a
boil for a moment or two. With a
wooden connection, with a small barrel
or keg, the tank is made tight and
brought to a boil; the steam, having
previously dissolved the oils, etc., will
now vaporize them, and will condense
in the last-named keg. After a few
hours the job is done, the keg is bunged
or corked up, and is ready for shipment
as commercial wintergreen oil, though
made from birch refuse continually in
tho way .—Lumber "Trade Journal
.
Americans in China.
Charles Den by, who represents the
United States at Peking, reports offi
cially a compilation of the reports of
American consuls k\ China showing the
number and, partially, the occupation
of Americans resident in China. The
total is but 1022, as against probably
100,000 Chinamen in the United States.
More than half the Americf-us in China
are missionaries—only twenty-three are
merchants.
Remarkable Will Power.
Three stories were told over after
dinner cigars the other day showing the
power of man’s will, One was of a
young officer in the English army, who
was peculiarly stubborn and irascible,
lie had been confined to’his bed after a
severe attach of the heart and was un
able to move. His physician asked one
of his fellow-officers to warn him that
he would never get out of bed again,
that he might arrauge his affairs before
death. When the sick man was told
what the doctor had said he arose in his
bed exciteily anl said: “I will never
get up again, eh? I will walk to the
doctor myself and show him. ” He
jumped to the floor, walked across the
room and fell dead.
The other was about a Sheriff out
West, who, when arresting a man, was
stabbed through the heart. He seized
the man by the shoulders af ter the blade
had struck him, pressed him to the
ground, drewhLs revolver, and deliber
ately thrusting it down the struggling
prisoner’s throat, pulled the trigger the
instant he himself died.
The third story was regarding anoth
er officer who was hunting down a
thief. The man thought he had given
his pursuer the slip, but just as he en
tered one door of a railroad car the offi
cer appeared in the other, The thief
instantly fired, the bullet penetrating
his pursuer’s brain. The officer, how
ever, returned the shot, bringing his
man to the ground. He then dragged
himself along the aisle of the car, firing
as he crawled, until his revolve* was
empty. He was dead when he was
picked up. a second after he ceased to
shoot. —Boston Gazette.
The Pueblo Indians.
There ate in existence nineteen
“tribes” of Pueblo Indians, and all live
in the northern half of New Mexico ex
cept the Moquis, who are just over the
line in northeast Arizona—400 miles
east of Fort Yuma. Pueblo is a tribe
name as much as Ute, and is never ap
plied to any other tribe. There is not
in the whole southwest an ignoramus so
monumental as to class Navajoes,
Apaches, or Yumas, as of the Pueblos.
No Pueblo ever dwelt in a wooden hut
or “tepee.” They dwell in adobe or
stone hout-es, and very neat, wholesome,
and comfortable ones. They are the
only Indians in the country who do.
They have not abandoned any social
laws. No American c immunity in ex
istence is so well governed as a Pueblo
town. There is no such thing among
them—nor ever has been—as a chief.
They elect their officers by ballot yearly.
The Pueblos are not paupers in a land
of wealth, but are invariably in com
fortable circumstances. The population
of the villages runs from 100 to 1,500
and each village owns from 15,000 to
150,000 acres of land, the arable part
being held in severalty. Under the
sacred pledges of the treaty of Guada
lupe Hidalgo these people are entitled
to full citizenship. They are the best
class of people in the territory. They
are short, as a rule, but almost invaria
bly of superb physique, and, as for
brains, the average tourist certainly
does not oversize them. They are al
ways modestly and picturesquely
clothed and a more modest race does
not dwell in the two Americas.
A Newspaper Rack.
For thi3 rack two boards are required,
the one forming the back a size larger
than the other. The smaller one should
be larger than a medium-sized newspa
per, folded as bought, Cover one side
of each board with satin or plush of any
shade liked, and work on smaller board
some pretty design, Lino with a con
trusting shade of satine. Put brass
headed tacks or small rings at equal
distance apart, in at the sides, and
fasten the boards together by narrow
ribbon laced back and forth. Suspend
with a strong gilt cord attached to a
brass ring fastened at each upper cor
ner. If liked, a gilt cord may be used
for lacing instead of the ribbon.—
Yankee Blade.
The Beards Our Ancostors Wore.
Our Saxon ancestors delighted in
wearing long, forked beards; the Nor
mans, on the contrary, at the period of
the conquest, not only shaved theii
chins but also the back part of tbeir
kefcis. They had not, however, been
long established in Engl and before they
permitted their beards to grow to ex
travagant dimensions.
An assistant secretary might be called
an underwriter.
SCIENTIFIC SCRAPS.
Telegraph poles in India are made of
iron, on account of the destruction of
wooden ones by the white ants.
At the end of five weeks typhoid
bacilli may reach a depth of 16 to 20
inches below the earth’s surface.
The role assigned by Pasteur to earth
worms of bringing bacteria to the sur
face lias received support from recent
observations of Bollinger.
The light chloric chromium elements
used for propelling small vessels are
made to weigli only half as much as ac
cumulators used for the same purpose.
The Cape de la Ilo.ve lighthouse in
France, is being lighted experimentally
by the current from accumulators kept
charged by two dynamos driven by a
windmill.
Professor Henson, with a deep-sea ex
ploration party, has sailed from Kiel for
the Greenland coast, where a series of
submarine soundings and investigations
will be carried out.
Experiments in welding wire rope by
the electrical process show that the
strength of the finished welding ia
within eighteen per cent, of the normal
strength of the cable.
Piece^ of rock crystal heated in a
platinum tube and dropped into water
fly all to pieces but a drop of melted
crystal if allowed to fall into water then
though there is a great commotion, it
does not break, but remains clear.
Machinery has been patented for the
purpose of making ship boats from a
single sheet of steel. They will be of
various dimensions. It is obvious that
there must be great economy in this
mode of making boats in assorted
sizes.
A process has been invented by means
of which photographs can be printed
almost as fast as a newspaper, and with
out dependence on sun or light. They
are said to he of the first quality. That
of course would make photographs much
cheaper.
The practical results of the applica
tion of electricity to tempering steel are
said to be very satisfactory, both in re
gard to the cost and also uniformity of
the product, as well as its application
to tempering lower grades of steel into
good spring steel.
An English inventor lays claim to an
electric railway lamp-—not controlled by
clockwork—which . is lighted by the
dropping of a penny into the apparatus,
and continues to shine for a period of
from two mmutes to several hours, ac
cording to adjustment.
An elaborate article on the cost of
steam and water power, based on actual
work at a woolen mill on the Merrimac
River, may be condensed into the state
ment that the steam power cave a total
cost per horse power of $52.50, against
$19.21 for the water power.
Dundee, Scotland, has become the
seat of a new industry—the making and
dyeing of floor cloth at a very cheap
rate by means of a German invention.
Works are to be started at once and a
large number of unemployed people are
eagerly looking forward to it.
In the machine hall of the Paris Ex
position is a casting weighing 10 tons.
This piece de founderie is not intended
to serve any useful purpose, but merely
intended to show what can be accom
plished by pattern makers, molder and
founder. As regards intricacy of de
tail, it has never been surpassed.
Now that consumption is regarded as
a contagious disease, people are begin
ning to ask how it is to be prevented.
Dr. Cornet of Berlin strongly advises
that phthisical patients should use their
own spoons, glasses, etc., and should
avoid kissing their friends, If death
occurs, the room occupied by the dead
person should be rubbed with new
bread, and all furniture, bedding, etc.,
3hould be carefully disinfected.
The World’s Production of
The world’s production of sugar is
estimated at about 4,000,000 tons in*
eluding about 2,500,000 of beet sugar,
comprising 600,000 tons in Germany?
400,000 tons in France, 460, 000 tons
Austria-Hungary, 125,000 tons in H 1 *'
land and 125,000 tons in Belgium. 0E C
beet sugar crop of 1889-90 in these
countries is estimated at 2,910,000 tons
against 2,735,000 tons in 1S85-S9 and
2,219,973 tons in 1885-86. Of the cane
sugar producing countries, Cuba lakes
the lead with 623, 617 tons in 1888 an
five years’ of '538, 455 tons. - '
a average
New York Graphic,