REMAKKS  ON  LEMON-JUICE. 
ferred  to,  i.  e.,  that  variation  is  a  result  of  domestication,  and 
that  there  are  no  wild  varieties  (a  view  which  essentially  coin- 
cides with  that  of  Jordan,  as  stated  above),  is  sufficiently  refu- 
ted by  Decaisne's  experiments.  For  one  of  the  four  Pears  of  his 
experiments,  the  Sanger  is  a  wild  variety,  or  nearly  so,  and  its 
seedlings  were  not  behind  those  of  the  other  sorts  in  amount  of 
variation.  And  2,  although  no  varieties  may  not  have  yet  been 
shown  to  degenerate  while  duly  cared  for,  under  continued  pro- 
pagation from  buds,  it  does  not  follow  that  they  would  continue 
to  exist  in  perpetuity.  It  can  hardly  be  otherwise  than  that  the 
existence  of  a  species  is  prolonged  bv  sexual  reproduction  as  it 
would  not  be  by  budding,  or  sex  lesspropagation. — A.  G. 
Am.  Jour.  Sci.  and  Arts,  Nov.  1863. 
EEMARKS  ON  LEMON-JUICE  AND  ITS  PRESERVATION. 
By  Charles  Symes. 
The  fact  that  prescriptions,  ordering  alkaline  mixtures  to  be 
taken  effervescing  with  lemon-juice,  are  often  accompanied  by 
instructions  that  "the  lemon-juice  is  not  to  be  sent,"  is  both  un- 
pleasant and  unprofitable.  Unpleasant,  as  indicating  suspicion 
on  the  part  of  the  prescriber  that  the  dispenser  will  not  faith- 
fully discharge  his  duty,  in  sending  exactly  what  is  prescribed, 
and  thus  weakening  the  confidence  of  the  patient ;  unprofitable, 
as  it  deprives  the  pharmaceutist  of  a  portion  of  his  legitimate 
profit.  Now  as  there  can  be  no  effect  without  a  cause,  so  there 
must  be  a  reason  why  the  above  instructions  are  so  frequently 
received,  and  it  appears  to  be  just  this  : — Lemon-juice  will  not 
keep  for  any  length  of  time  if  simply  strained  and  bottled.  Pe- 
reira  and  Royle,  after  stating  this,  give  formulae  for  its  artificial 
preparation,  and  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  a  substitute  so 
prepared  is  largely  used.  This,  in  dispensing,  is  about  as 
justifiable  as  extemporizing  Inf.  Cinchona  by  an  aqueous  solu- 
tion of  quinine  and  cinchonine.  Yet  who  would  countenance 
the  latter?  Royle  also  states  that  "druggists  in  this  country 
preserve  it  (the  fresh  juice)  by  adding  T\  of  spirit  of  wine,  and 
filtering  off  the  mucilage."  Spirit  is  highly  objectionable  in 
cases  for  which  effervescing  mixtures  are  usually  prescribed, 
therefore  this  also  would  be  inadmisible  for  dispensing  purposes. 
Undoubtedly,  in  some  establishmments,  lemon-juice  is  pre- 
