ORANGES. 273 



much beauty and fragrance in the tropical fruits, the 

 germes in the plants there have certainly a more 

 equable temperature throughout the year, and prob- 

 ably not a higher one than they have in Lapland. 

 In all tropical countries the fruits are delightfully 

 cooling, even when they are gathered under the 

 burning sun ; and as the pulp of fruits has accom- 

 plished its purpose, and is about to be yielded up 

 to the general doom of materials, if man do not ap- 

 propriate it to his use, if that be found to retain so 

 very cool a temperature, much more so must the 

 common juices of the plants, many of which outlive 

 the oaks and the chestnuts of temperate climates. 



The whole of the orange tribe, and the orange 

 itself in an especial degree, show how well the trop- 

 ical vegetables are, by a very simple provision of na- 

 ture, protected from the vicissitudes of temperature. 

 The volatile oil which is contained in the pellicles 

 of the rind absorbs and flies off with much of the 

 heat ; and the soft white substance of which the 

 body of the skin is composed is almost as good a 

 barrier against both heat and cold as the fur on an 

 animal or the down on a bird. In consequence of 

 that, the orange tribe, where they are uninjured 

 when picked, and kept out of the circumstances 

 which resemble those in which an orange would 

 prepare for growing in the soil, can be carried unin- 

 jured to greater distances, and into a greater variety 

 of climates, than any other fruit. It is very different 

 with the northern berries ; none of them will keep 

 their flavour, and few their form, for a week ; the 

 strawberry is vapid the second day if fully ripe when 

 gathered, and the raspberry is injured in an hour 

 even in shorter time if the weather is very warm. 

 All those are covered by mere pellicles, as tender 

 and easily ruptured as they are thin ; and more 

 strength is not required for them, as the term of their 

 existence is very short, and the season is mild and 

 comparatively uniform all the time they are passing 



