administration is rendered impossible by idiosyncrasy or the state of the patient’s digestion. The oil is very readily absorbed from the skin and exerts all its therapeutic actions when thus exhibited. This method is often resorted to in the case of infants or young children suffering from abdominal or other forms of tuberculosis. Its only objection is the odour which the patient exhales. When taken by the mouth, cod-liver oil shares with other liver-oils the property of ready absorption. It often causes unpleasant symptoms, which must always be dealt with and not disregarded, more harm than good being done if this course is not followed. Fortunately a tolerance is soon established in the majority of cases. It has been experimentally proved that this is more readily absorbed than any other oil—including other liver-oils. Much attention has been paid to the explanation of this fact, since knowledge on this point might enable an artificial product, without the disadvantages of this oil, to be substituted for it. Very good results have been obtained from a preparation named “lipanin,” which consists of six parts of oleic acid and ninety-four of pure olein. Cod-liver oil has the further peculiarity of being more readily oxidizable than any other oil; an obviously valuable property when it is remembered that the entire food-value of oils depends on their oxidation.
Cod-liver oil may be given in all wasting diseases, and is occasionally valuable in cases of chronic rheumatoid arthritis; but its great therapeutic value is in cases of tuberculosis of whatever kind, and notably in pulmonary tuberculosis or consumption. Its reputation in this is quite inexpugnable. It is essential to remember that “in phthisis the key of the situation is the state of the alimentary tract,” and the utmost care must be taken to obviate the nausea, loss of appetite and diarrhoea, only too easily induced by this oil. It is best to begin with only one dose in the twenty-four hours, to be taken just before going to sleep, so that the patient is saved its unpleasant “repetition” from an unaccustomed stomach. In general, it is therefore wise to order a double dose at bedtime. The oil may be given in capsules, or in the form of an emulsion, with or without malt-extract, or success may be obtained by adding, to every two drachms of the oil, ten minims of pure ether and a drop of peppermint oil. The usual dose, at starting, is one or two drachms, but the oil should be given eventually in the largest quantities that the patient can tolerate.
CODRINGTON, CHRISTOPHER (1668–1710), British soldier
and colonial governor, whose father was captain-general of the
Leeward Isles, was born in the island of Barbados, West Indies,
in 1668. Educated at Christ Church, Oxford, he was elected a
fellow of All Souls, and subsequently served with the British
forces in Flanders, being rewarded in 1695 with a captaincy
in the Guards. In the same year he attended King William III.
on his visit to Oxford, and, in the absence of the public orator,
was chosen to deliver the University oration. In 1697, on the
death of his father, he was appointed captain-general and commander-in-chief
of the Leeward Isles. In 1703 he commanded the
unsuccessful British expedition against Guadeloupe. After this
he resigned his governorship, and spent the rest of his life in
retirement and study on his Barbados estates. He died on the
7th of April 1710, bequeathing these estates to the Society for the
Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts for the foundation
of a college in Barbados. This college, known as the Codrington
college, was built in 1714–1742. To All Souls College, Oxford,
he bequeathed books worth £6000 and £10,000 in money, out
of which was built and endowed the Codrington library there.
CODRINGTON, SIR EDWARD (1770–1851), British admiral, belonged to a family long settled at Dodington in Gloucestershire. He was the youngest of three brothers, who were left
orphans at an early age, and were educated by an uncle, Mr
Bethell. Edward Codrington was sent for a short time to Harrow,
and entered the navy in July 1783. He served on the American
station, in the Mediterranean and at home, till he was promoted
lieutenant on the 28th of May 1783. Lord Howe selected him
to be signal lieutenant on the flagship of the Channel fleet at
the beginning of the revolutionary war with France. In that
capacity he served in the “Queen Charlotte” (100) during the
operations which culminated in the battle of the 1st of June 1794.
The notes he wrote on Barrow’s account of the battle in his Life of Howe, and the reminiscences he dictated to his daughter,
which are to be found in her memoir of him, are of great value for
the history of the action. On the 7th of October 1794 he was
promoted commander, and on the 6th of April 1795 attained the
rank of post-captain and the command of the “Babet” (22).
He continued to serve in the Channel, and was present at the
action off L’Orient on the 23rd of June 1795. Codrington wrote
notes on this encounter also, which are to be found in the memoir.
They are able and valuable, but, like all his correspondence
throughout his life, show that he was of a somewhat censorious
disposition, was apt to take the worst view of the conduct of
others, and was liable to be querulous. He next commanded the
“Druid” (32) in the Channel and on the coast of Portugal, till
she was paid off in 1797. Codrington now remained on shore and
on half-pay for some years. In December 1802 he married Jane,
daughter of Jasper Hall of Kingston, Jamaica.
On the renewal of the war after the breach of the peace of Amiens he was appointed (May 1805) to the command of the “Orion” (74) and was attached to the fleet on the coast of Spain, then blockading Villeneuve in Cadiz. The “Orion” took a conspicuous part in the battle of Trafalgar. Codrington’s correspondence contains much illuminative evidence as to the preliminaries and the events of the victory. From 1805 till 1813 he continued to serve first in the “Orion” and then (1808) in the “Blake” (74) in European waters. He was present on the Walcheren expedition, and was very actively employed on the Mediterranean coast of Spain in co-operating with the Spaniards against the French. In 1814 he was promoted rear-admiral, at which time he was serving on the coast of North America as captain of the fleet to Sir Alexander Cochrane during the operations against Washington, Baltimore and New Orleans. In 1815 he was made K.C.B., and was promoted vice-admiral on the 10th of July 1821. In December 1826 he was appointed to the Mediterranean command, and sailed on the 1st of February 1827. From that date until his recall on the 21st of June 1828 he was engaged in the arduous duties imposed on him by the Greek War of Independence, which had led to anarchy and much piracy in the Levant. On the 20th of October 1827 he destroyed the Turkish and Egyptian naval forces at Navarino (q.v.), while in command of a combined British, French and Russian fleet. As the battle had been unforeseen in England, and its result was unwelcome to the ministry of the day, Codrington was entangled in a correspondence to prove that he had not gone beyond his instructions, and he was recalled by a despatch, dated the 4th of June.
After the battle Codrington went to Malta to refit his ships. He remained there till May 1828, when he sailed to join his French and Russian colleagues on the coast of the Morea. They endeavoured to enforce the evacuation of the peninsula by Ibrahim peacefully. The Pasha made diplomatic difficulties, and on the 25th of July the three admirals agreed that Codrington should go to Alexandria to obtain Ibrahim’s recall by his father Mehemet Ali. Codrington had heard on the 22nd of June of his own supersession, but, as his successor had not arrived, he carried out the arrangement made on the 25th of July, and his presence at Alexandria led to the treaty of the 6th of August 1828, by which the evacuation of the Morea was settled. His services were recognized by the grant of the grand cross of the Bath, but there is no doubt that he was treated as a scape-goat at least to some extent. After his return home he was occupied for a time in defending himself, and then in leisure abroad. He commanded a training squadron in the Channel in 1831 and became admiral on the 10th of January 1837. From November 1839 to December 1842 he was commander-in-chief at Portsmouth. He died on the 28th of April 1851.
Sir Edward Codrington left two sons, Sir William (1804–1884), a soldier who commanded in the Crimea, and Sir John Henry (1808–1877), a naval officer, who died an admiral of the fleet.
See Memoir of the Life of Admiral Sir Edward Codrington, by his daughter Jane, Lady Bourchier, wife of Sir T. Bourchier, R.N. (London, 1873). (D. H.)
