TASTE, AS APPLIED TO FRUITS. 233 



of difference in any object. There is a degree 

 of pleasure in the very consciousness of possess- 

 ing the power to do so. The want of this per- 

 ceptive power reduces all flavors, good and bad 

 alike, to one common level, and that level a low 

 one. - * 



We have the evidence of this before us every 

 day, and marvel that it is so common. What 

 we wish to do here is to impress the reader 

 with the fact that, on the integrity and preser- 

 vation of his taste, will depend a large measure 

 of his enjoyment. As grape eaters and wine 

 drinkers, the great mass have this important 

 lesson to learn. They have yet to learn that 

 there are simple, natural pleasures, arising from 

 the proper use of taste, which are far more sat- 

 isfying and enduring than any derived from ar- 

 tificial forms. Such knowledge would exercise 

 a beneficent influence on intemperance in both 

 eating and drinking. 



But we must not be content with the power 

 simply to know what is sweet or what is sour, 

 or what is essentially good or essentially ' bad ; 

 we must not stop short of the power to perceive 

 all the gradations which connect these together. 

 We must know not only wherein one thing re- 

 sembles another, but wherein they differ, and 



