COD LIVER OIL What il is and where it comes from, When we talk of cod liver oil we think prim- arily of the medicinal product, which is known throughout the world and is prized by reason of its therapeutic properties and its high vitamin value. In Norway cod liver oil has for a very long period been a valued household remedy for vari- ous ailments. It was, however, only about a cen- tury ago that it attracted the attention of the medical profession. In this way the product rap- idly became known. Scientists gradually began to occupy themselves with its effects on the human organism: and since the discovery of vitamins it has been established that the peculiar effects of cod liver oil on the organism are due to its ex- ceptionally great content of the so-called fat- soluble vitamins A and D. Norwegian steam-prepared, medicinal cod liver oil takes its name from a method of preparation invented and adopted in Norway in the middle of last century, as the result of a series of prac- tical scientific tests. The principle of this method 147