Specification of Charles Constant Joseph Guffroy : preparing the livers of salt water fish.

  • Guffroy, Charles Constant Joseph.
Date:
1861
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Specification of Charles Constant Joseph Guffroy : preparing the livers of salt water fish. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Guffroys Improvements in Preparing the Livers of Salt Water Fish. NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Charles , do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, that is to say:— 5 The object of this Invention is to obtain a concentrated extract from the livers of salt water fish. The liver of the cod fish, squalus, thornback, ray, or any other fish which is or may be used for the purpose of extracting therefrom oils on account of their medicinal and chemical properties, contains not only oil, but also a solid substance which forms its parenchyma, and a liquid or watery 110 substance, which is found intimately mixed or combined with both the fatty matter and the solid matter or parenchyma. In all processes heretofore practised for the extraction of the oil from the liver these two substances accompanying the oil have been left as a residue and thrown away or used as a manure. This Invention is based upon the discovery that this residue contains 115 a much more considerable proportion of those chemical elements which impart to the oil its precious qualities than the oil itself; and I have succeeded in extracting and obtaining from the residue a new substance in a state of paste, or in a nearly solid state, which contains to a much greater extent all the II medicinal properties and other useful qualities of the oil. I prepare the 120 extract in the following manner:—I first carefully separate the liquid substance from the solid residue. This I effect either by decantation, filtra¬ tion, or otherwise. I then take the liquid mass and evaporate it until it acquires the consistency of tough paste. This may be done directly over a slow fire by means of a hot water bath, or by causing steam or hot water to |25 circulate through a worm or coil placed inside the boiler or vessel containing Sthe liquid. The evaporation may be carried on in the open air or in vacuo. In this way I obtain from ten to fifteen pounds of the paste from every hundred i pounds of the liquid. During the operation the albumen contained in the * liquid coagulates and floats on the surface in snow-like scum; this can be 130 removed or left at will in the paste. If the albumen is removed the paste is obtained of a brown color, and is more hygrometrical; if, on the contrary, the albumen is left, it is firmer, clearer, of a yellowish fawn color, and less 1 hygrometrical. || The paste obtained in manner before described has the smell and taste of H35 cod liver oil, but it contains a much greater proportion of those chemical elements which impart to the oil its well known medicinal properties. It is of an acid character, and is perfectly soluble in water and alcohel. The con¬ sistency of the paste allows of its being made into pills, pastiles, and other solid forms, which may be taken by the sick and others with the greatest