This is one of the “oilless” cod liver cordials. Like other manufacturers of such extracts, the Katharmon Chemical Company, St. Louis, which owns Hagee’s Cordial, attempts to trade on the reputation long enjoyed by cod liver oil as a promoter of growth and nutrition. The following is the statement of composition furnished by the company:

“Each fluid ounce of Hagee’s Cordial of the extract of Cod Liver Oil Compound represents the extract obtainable from 1⁄8 fluid ounce of Cod Liver Oil (the fatty portion being eliminated), 6 grs. Calcium Hypophosphite, 3 grs. Sodium Hypophosphite, 1⁄2 gr. Salicylic Acid (made from Oil Wintergreen), with Glycerin and Aromatics.”

And here are some of the therapeutic claims:

“Tonic, Stimulant, Alterative, Reconstructive, Nutritive and Digestive.”

“Useful in phthisis pulmonalis, scrofula and all chronic pectoral complaints, coughs, colds, brain exhaustion, nervous debility, palsy, chronic cutaneous eruptions and impaired digestion.”

Of course, these absurd claims hark back to the time of the prevalence of the now discarded theory that the valuable properties of cod liver oil reside, not in the fat, but in certain nitrogenous, alkaloid-like constituents present in infinitesimal amounts. Further “playing up” this theory:

“The prescriber may know that in our preparation he is getting, in easily assimilable and palatable form, the very properties that make cod liver oil the best of reconstructives.

“When you prescribe cod liver oil you are after the active principles—​why not give the active principles themselves.”

Proprietary manufacturers usually ignore scientific investigations which establish facts adverse to proprietary claims; but the same proprietary manufacturers are quick to seize on any theory that can be twisted into support of their interests. Thus, recent investigations having shown that cod liver oil, like butter and egg yolk, possesses certain growth-promoting properties not found in some other fats, the promoters of Hagee’s Cordial claim these properties of cod liver oil for their extract. They assert:

“Recent Chemical Investigations of Cod Liver Oil show that the active principles contain the nutritive qualities attributed to the whole oil.”