PRESCRIPTION 



PRESERVED PROVISIONS 395 



gr.j 

 / 3i 



commence each prescription with the symbol IJ, 

 which signifies .Recipe, 'take.' As an illustration, 

 we append a prescription for a tonic draught 

 4 where f. 5 stands for fluid ounce ; f. 5 for fluid 

 drachm ; "I for minim ; yr. for grain ; M. for misce, 

 mix'): 



(Name of Patient.) 

 ]Ji Quinia Sulph., 

 Tinct. Calnmbse, 

 Acid. Sulph. Dilut., 

 Syrup. Aurant., f. 3iss 



Infus. Calumbse, odf. 3j 

 M. Fiat Haustus ter quotidie sumendus. 



Date. (Initials or name of prescriber.) 



As a parallel to this retention in western Europe 

 of a meuueval usage, it may be mentioned that in 

 the palmy days of the republic of Athens the 

 Attic-speaking practitioner was held bound to 

 write his prescriptions in the ancient Doric dialects ; 

 the reason in this case being that the schools of 

 medicine in the Doric colonies of Magna Gnecia 

 and elsewhere were long the most celebrated. 



Prescription, in Roman law, means a clause 

 inserted in the preface to the formula under which 

 an action was tried. The prescription longi tern- 

 ports directed that the claimant should not succeed 

 if the defendant had been so long in possession of 

 the property in dispute that equity would not 

 allow him to In- disturbed. In England lapse of 

 time may affect property rights in various ways. 

 The right of a claimant to l>i iir_ r an action may be 

 taken away by statutes of Limitation (q.v. ), or 

 the law may regard the long enjoyment of the 

 possessor as evidence to show that his rights had a 

 lawful origin. Possessory title to land is now 

 gained under the express provisions of the modern 

 statutes of limitation. In proving title by pre- 

 scription to easements (such as rights of way, 

 ancient lights, &c.) and other incorporeal rights 

 over the land of another the claimant relies on 

 immemorial enjoyment ; but the courts would 

 always infer the immemorial character of the right 

 from a comparatively short period of actual enjoy- 

 ment. And now, under the Prescription Act of 

 1S32, the period is fixed at twenty years in the case 

 of lights and other easements and thirty years in 

 the case of profits (such as common of pasture, and 

 the like). For the rules of the act, see Shelford's 

 Real Property Statutes. 



In the law of Scotland prescription is a method 

 both of acquiring and of losing a right ; hence it is 

 divided into positive and negative. The positive 

 prescription was introduced by Statute 1617, chap. 

 12. As that statute has been interpreted by 

 decisions, possession of heritable subjects for forty 

 years, on the requisite titles, recorded in the 

 appropriate register, is sufficient to secure an 

 owner against any one alleging a better title ; or 

 to determine the extent of an estate, where a 

 question arises either as to what is comprehended 

 under a general description or as to whether a 

 specific piece of property has been carried under 

 a clause of parts and pertinents ; or to merge a 

 title of property in the higher title of superiority. 

 The possession must be uninterrupted and co-ex- 

 tensive with the right claimed. The Conveyanc- 

 ing Act, 1874 (37 and 38 Viet. chap. 94 sect. 34), 

 simplified the title necessary for founding pre- 

 scription, by enacting that 'any ex facie valid, 

 irredeemable title,' recorded in the appropriate 

 register, shall be sufficient ; and shortened the 

 prescriptive period by enacting that possession for 

 twenty years continually and together, following 

 on such recorded title, shall be equivalent to 

 possession for the old period of forty years. 



The negative prescription of obligations was first 

 introduced by the Statute 1469, chap. 29, which 



declares that unless a person follow an obligation 

 and take document thereon within forty years, his 

 right shall prescribe and be of no avail. By the 

 Act 1617, chap. 12, this prescription was extended 

 to heritable bonds and other heritable rights, and 

 it was enacted that the years of minority of the 

 party against whom the prescription was used 

 should not be counted. In addition to these long 

 prescriptions there are several shorter prescriptions, 

 whose object, generally speaking, is to protect 

 parties against the consequences of negligence in 

 preserving vouchers and, after the expiration of 

 the prescriptive period, to change the onus pro- 

 bandi and to restrict the mode of proof. Among 

 these lesser prescriptions are the vicennial pre- 

 scription of twenty years, applicable to retours and 

 holograph writings ; the ten years' or decennial 

 prescription, applicable to actions against tutors 

 and curators; the septennial prescription of caution- 

 ary obligations ; the sexennial prescription of bills 

 of exchange ; the quinquennial prescription of 

 arrears of rent in an agricultural lease, of ministers' 

 stipends, of bargains concerning movables made 

 verbally, and of inhibitions ; the triennial prescrip- 

 tion, introduced by the Act 1579, chap. 83, appli- 

 cable to actions for servants' wages, for house-rents, 

 or for accounts to attorneys, surgeons, agents, &c. 

 In Scotland if, within twenty years after the com- 

 mission of a crime, no step has been taken to bring 

 the offender to justice, it would appear that the 

 right to prosecute falls to the grounu. 



Presentment. See CRIMINAL LAW. 



Preserved Provisions. Under the term 

 preserves is usually included fruit, eaten whole or 

 broken, or the juice of fruit, preserved by boiling 

 with sugar. Whole fruit is boiled in clear syrup 

 in such a manner that the sugar penetrates tin- 

 fruit completely. It is then' drained and dried at 

 a gentle heat, so that the absorbed sugar crysta r 

 lises in the substance and on the surface of th: 

 fruit, which is then known as candied. Jam cor- 

 sists of fruit boiled with an equal weight of suga: , 

 which latter dissolves in the fruit juice set free as 

 the fruit breaks down. If well made they can be 

 preserved in this manner for years, but the quality 

 deteriorates after twelve or eighteen months, owing 

 to crystallisation and other changes taking place 

 in the sugar. Fruit jellies consist of the juice of 

 the fruit only, boiled with sugar, this vegetable 

 jelly consisting principally of a substance Known 

 to chemists under the name of pectin. Fruits are 

 also preserved by covering with water in suitable 

 vessels, heating to a high temperature, and closing 

 the vessel whilst hot. 



Meat, vegetables, and other provisions may be 

 preserved with more or less success in a number of 

 ways, which may be classed roughly under four 

 headings : ( 1 ) desiccation ; (2) use of cold ; (3) by 

 chemical compounds (antiseptics); (4) by exclusion 

 of air. The simple process of drying is effective 

 both with meat and vegetables, and if completely 

 carried out prevents the ordinary putrefactive 

 changes from taking place. Dried vegetables are 

 prepared largely for use on board ship, and the 

 soup tablets so extensively used nowadays consist 

 of meat and vegetables dried and pressed together. 

 Jerked Beef (q.v.) and Pemmican (q.v.) are pre- 

 pared chiefly by drying in the sun. The use of 

 cold is mainly a temporary expedient employed 

 for the carriage of meat from one country to 

 another. This industry is carried on extensively 

 in America, Australia, and New Zealand. The 

 carcass is frozen hard by a refrigerating machine, 

 ami packed on board ship in a chamber cooled by 

 a .similar apparatus. Meat so preserved arrives in 

 Europe in good condition, and if properly thawed 

 is superior to all but the best home-grown beef 



