A  January S^"}      A  Resume  of  Recurrent  Topics.  45 
be  very  complex,  and  its  preparation  difficult.  The  pharmacology 
of  eucaine,  however,  is  well  worthy  of  attention. 
Resemblance  with  Difference. — The  realm  of  nature  abounds  in 
curious  creations,  and  a  fanciful  imagination  can  help  many  compari- 
sons. But  with  all  these  freaks,  or,  to  be  more  reverent,  designs, 
these  objects  would  almost  seem  to  present  the  appearance  of  art 
assisting  nature.  For  instance,  the  fly-orchis,  Ophrys  muscifera, 
and  the  bee-orchis,  Ophrys  apifera,  produce  flowers,  the  parts  of 
which  bear  a  very  close  resemblance  to  the  body  forms  of  these 
insects  respectively.  Then  we  have,  in  the  mandrake  and  the  gin- 
seng, forms  which  require  very  slight  additions  to  parts  to  complete 
the  figure  of  human  shape.  The  poetic  fancy  has  given  us  a  tradition 
that  the  ploughman  stood  aghast  as  his  blade  threw  upon  the  surface 
the  rooted  mandrake  with  its  human  feet  and  hands  !  Minerals  are 
often  observed  to  possess  outlines  of  figures  which  might  be  mis- 
taken for  exquisite  chiseling. 
Professional  Compensation. — There  seems  to  exist  a  somewhat 
fixed  law  of  compensation  in  almost  all  affairs  except  those  of  hu- 
man agency,  and  even  there,  if  we  look  carefully  into  the  subject, 
will  be  found  causes  for  which  we  ourselves  are  directly  responsible. 
We  honor  the  individual  who  honors  himself ;  we  respect  the  man 
who  gives  evidence  of  an  innate  self-respect,  especially  in  a  profes- 
sional character.  That  man  who  degrades  the  value  of  a  prescrip- 
tion down  to  that  point  of  a  commercial  bartering  standard  creates 
a  torment  which  will  return  to  plague  him  all  the  remaining  days  of 
his  business  life.  There  should  be  no  autocratic  rates  on  prescrip- 
tions; but  there  should  be  a  just  and  fair  compensation  when  all  the 
elements  of  expense  are  duly  considered.  Some  estimates  have  bee  n 
given  as  to  what  should  be  a  fair  basis  of  calculation  in  attaching 
the  value,  commercially  and  scientifically,  to  a  physician's  prescrip- 
tion. The  value  to  the  patient  may  be  incalculable ;  but  this  is 
never  computed.  A  curative  compound  is  of  inestimable  worth  to 
illness,  suffering  and  pain.  And  when  the  compounder  is  justly  re- 
warded for  his  knowledge,  skill  and  science,  what  a  twopenny  com- 
parison is  the  cost  of  the  remedy  to  the  man's  or  woman's  health, 
strength  and  enjoyment  of  life!  This  is  the  way  in  which  the  public 
should  be  educated  to  view  it.  In  the  meanwhile,  let  no  reputable 
pharmacist  consent  to  gauge  the  value  of  a  presented  prescription 
by  the  price  to  which  some  mercenary  competitor,  some  commercial 
