Dr. 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 inflexible, it was found to be most serviceable. 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. Its operation was far from being uniform, for whilst in some instances it produced increased action of the bowels and promoted the alvine discharges, in others it had a tendency to induce constipation. In some it occasioned increased perspiration, and in others an addition to the secretion of the urine. In some it produced an eruption of the skin, attended with a sense of prickling heat. In some few cases, none of these sensible effects were to be observed. When it proved serviceable, its beneficial effects were found to be apparent in the course of a fortnight, and if at the expiration of that time no good resulted, little was to be expected from a continuance of its use; it was, however, remarked, that when it began to be useful its progress was observed to be gradual, and it became necessary, in order to insure a cure of the patient and to guard against a renewal of the attack, to continue its daily exhibition for a period extending to not less than six or eight months. The observations of these enlightened physicians have been confirmed by more modern practitioners. Corroborative evidence has been adduced against its employment in acute cases, or those attended by active inflammatory action, and for its employment in chronic cases attended by a low inflammatory condition, or in those cases where want of power and diminished strength are most apparent.