46  A  Resume  of  Recurrent  Topics.  {^dZlffm™' 
apothecary,  whose  existence  is  made  possible  by  our  loose,  lax  laws, 
has  degraded  it  and  himself.  The  value  of  the  service  in  compound- 
ing a  prescription,  omitting  the  cost  of  material,  bears  the  just  ratio 
of  50  per  cent,  of  the  price  charged,  yet  what  a  dignified  recompense 
on  a  ten-cent  prescription  ! 
Fruits  and  Juices. — Those  who  are  in  the  habit  of  observing  may 
often  wonder  why  tropical  fruits  are  so  much  less  perishable  than 
those  grown  in  temperate  regions.  The  first  impression  is  that  the 
high  degrees  of  heat  and  the  strong,  direct  light  would  both  con- 
duce to  relaxed  tissue  and  vapid  juice ;  yet  exactly  the  reverse  of 
this  is  true.  The  provision  which  guards  against  this,  and  so  wisely 
adjusts  the  productions  to  the  clime,  is  seen  in  the  structure  of  the 
orange  and  the  lemon.  The  volatile  oil  and  fixed  oils,  which  exist 
in  the  pellicle  of  the  rind,  absorb  and  check  the  penetrative  power 
of  the  heat,  whilst  the  soft,  white  substance,  the  inner  pulpy  coat- 
ing, is  as  good  a  barrier  against  both  cold  and  heat  as  the  fur  on  an 
animal's  body  or  the  soft  down  on  the  bird's  breast.  As  the  result 
of  this  the  orange  species,  when  uninjured  in  the  picking  and  hand- 
ling, can  be  carried,  without  deteriorating,  to  great  distances  and  to 
all  varieties  of  climate. 
How  very  different  is  the  case  with  our  Northern  berries  and 
fruits  !  But  few  of  these,  if  any,  will  keep  their  flavor  for  forty-eight 
hours,  and  none  of  them  retain  their  form  for  any  considerable  dur- 
ation of  time.  Another  curious  and  striking  fact  is  that  the  juices 
of  tropical  fruits  are  all  of  a  cool  temperature  in  the  native  or  natu- 
ral state,  being  shielded  from  vicissitudes.  The  milky  juice  of  the 
coccanut  is  of  an  even  temperature,  refreshingly  cool,  being  well 
protected  in  that  dermic  coire,  or  skin,  which  is  between  the  outer 
shell  and  the  meat  of  the  fruit.  Then  again,  our  now  indigenous 
watermelon  gets  an  abundance  of  sweet  juice  and  retains  it,  no  mat- 
ter how  dry  and  arid  may  be  the  soil  of  its  habitat,  the  largest — 
and  much  the  finest — variety  of  these  fruits  being  grown  in  the  In- 
dian Desert,  between  the  valley  of  the  Indus  and  the  Ganges,  where 
not  a  drop  of  water  falls  from  the  clouds  during  the  annual  cycle, 
and  the  rainy  monsoon  often  passes  over  the  region  without  shed- 
ding one  sympathetic  tear  of  moisture  upon  the  parched  soil ;  yet 
the  melon  secures  its  quota  of  sweet,  watery  juice,  and  keeps  it, 
under  its  varnished  rind,  comparatively  cool.  Verily,  before  the 
magic  of  Nature,  the  feats  of  art  and  legerdemain  are  insignificant ! 
