STATE HOETICULTUEAL SOCIETY. 187 



The same rules obtain in materia medica. Prof. Mapes, whose horticultural 

 writings are above all price, calls our attention to an interesting fact practically 

 illustrative of the law under consideration. He says, "For more than a century a 

 medicine has been manufactured in London, known as Pulvis Jacobi (James' Pow- 

 ders). For a long time its composition was a secret. The medicine, however, was 

 in general use, and large quantities were annually sent to the Eist Indies by the 

 East India Company, for the use of its medical department. It was very effective 

 in the treatment of fever, and its action always found to be uniform The Messrs. 

 James, the original discovers of this medicine died, and their successors of the same 

 name, from philanthropic motives, made known the composition, and the receipt 

 for its manufacture found its way into the Pliarmacopia. It was said to be com- 

 posed of phosphate of lime and oxyd of antimony in certain relative proportions, 

 which were stated. James' Powders were soon manufactured by every apothecary 

 as well as by the immediate successors of the original discoverers. The East India 

 Company advertised for proposals to furnish them with medicines, among which 

 was a large quantity of James' Powders, and a large and respectable manufacturer 

 of London named a lower price for this article than that named by the Messrs. James 

 themselves. It was furnished and sent out. The Medical department reported 

 that it failed entirely to prove the usual results. The company refused to pay the 

 bill, and a suit ensued. Many of the first chemists of England, including one of the 

 Messrs. James, made an analysis of this article, and gave evidence that it was the 

 same composition as that made by the Messrs. James. 



It appeared in evidence that the new manufacturers had calcined the phosphate 

 of lime rock from Estramadura, and then combined it with antimony as directed; 

 that the Messrs. James made their medicine by calcining the bones of oxen, and mix- 

 ing the phosphate so obtained with oxyd of antimony. Every chemist, Mr. James 

 included, believed and stated that there could be no difference in the effect of these 

 two medicines; that after the Estramadura rock was calcined, and the bone was 

 calcined, the results were alike, and the verdict was given in favor of the manufac- 

 turers. The company, however, sent out a new quantity manufactured by the 

 Messrs. James, and unlike that made from the Estramadura rock, it was found to be 

 efficient." 



This statement of Prof. Mapes clearly shows that men, like plants, can only assim- 

 ilate such primaries in progressed conditions as are adaptable to their plans of being. 

 It also helps us as to proper mixture anfi selection of manures; the higher qualities 

 always for the higher grades of plants. Why will the cauliflowers refuse to be sus- 

 tained in the proper soil for the lichens and mosses? Obliviously because the 

 cauliflower is far removed in progression of primaries in its structure from that of 

 the lichens and mosses. The fresh debris from the mountain side may grow the wild, 

 colorless, single rose, but tr}' the progressed rose, a variety which only centuries of 

 culture can develop, so beautiful and sweet, grim death is transformed in its pres- 

 ence into life's opportunity for a higher type of being; rather than be sustained 

 there, its very soul departs, for ought we know, into the angel realm that enshrines 

 all the perfections of nature. 



The apple is the best fruit in the world, "the survival of the fittest," the com- 

 panion of civilization. It was, doubtless, the crowning excellence previous to the 

 records of the Greeks and Romans, previous to the pre- historic lake dwellers of 



