Transcription

278
MISCELLANEOUS NOTES

 

DUGONG OIL FROM MORETON BAY

  Dr Hobbs of Moreton Bay has furnished the following particulars about the nature & used of this oil
It is procured from the blubber of the Halicore Dugong,  got in large quantities in Moreton Bay.
It is exhibited as a new therapeutic agent, and is a substitute for cod liver oil, having been used by the exhibitor, the Health Officer at Brisbane, for two and a half years with perfect success in the treatment of a variety of chronic disease. The distinction  between this and the cod liver oil is, that it contains no iodine, but it possesses all the advantages of the latter without its nauseous taste and smell. It is affirmed by the exhibition that the Thasomacipoeid [?] does not possess one remedy more to be depended upon, or one more agreeable to the palate than the Dugong oil; a doubt has been expressed whether the assertion that Dugong oil contains no iodine can be borne out. The Dugong is the only herbiverous [herbivorous] member of the cetaceae family, feeding upon seaweed and other marine vegetation; and it is well known that sea weed yields large quantities of iodine  -
The probability would appear to be that a substance which is to so large an extent a property of seaweed, would enter into the composition of the blubber of the animal fading upon it. The dispute, however, can only be settled by a careful chemical analysis.
Among the valuable effects produced by Dugong oil is it success in curing diseases of the ear. A case proving its efficiency in this respect came under the observation of Mr Wall, of the Museum of Sydney,  a few months ago. A man who had for twenty six years been deprived of the power of hearing applied to Mr. Wall for some Dugong oil, & after three applications his hearing was Completely restored.
The principal food of the Dugong is fish, which he obtains by pursuing from the Ocean & along the coast to the bays & inlets into Shoal water. The Aborigines respect the Dugong for the service he is to them in providing an abundant supply of fish for their use, while the Dugong is om pursuit of fish, they get into Shoal water, and are easily cast on shore by the blacks who use pronged sticks for this purpose. The sea coast blacks say that after death they become Dugongs and are thereby enabled to provide for their children & the tribe they belong to, on which accounts they never injure a Dugong..

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