Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  > 
Sept.,lS86.  ) 
Tropical  Fruits. 
447 
aud  will  soon  find  its  way  to  England  from  the  AVest  as  well 
as  from  the  East.  The  passion-fruits  are  amongst  the  most  delicate 
and  refreshing  of  tropical  fruits,  and  some  of  them  have  been  success- 
fully introduced  to  England.  The  most  common  are  the  granadilla 
(Passiflora  quadrangularis),  the  ponime  d'or  or  water  lemon.  (P.  lauri- 
folid),  the  sweet-cup  (Pc  edulis)  and  the  calabash  sweet-cup  (P.  mali- 
formis). 
Of  tropical  fruits  known  generally  as  nuts,  we  have  a  long  list, 
some  of  which  are  seldom  seen  in  England.  The  cocoa-nut  is  too 
well  known  to  need  description.  It  is  computed  that  over  three  mil- 
lion acres  of  land  are  under  cultivation  in  cocoa-nuts  in  tropical  coun- 
tries, and  the  annual  export  value  of  nuts,  oil,  copra  and  coir  is  esti- 
mated at  nearly  two  million  and  a  quarter  pounds  sterling.  The 
Brazil  nut  (Berthottetia  excelsa)  is  obtained  entirely  from  wild  trees 
which  are  of  immense  size ;  and  the  same  may  be  said  of  the  Sapucaya 
nut  (Lecythis  Sapucajo),  and  the  Souari  or  butter-nut  (Cafyoca  nu- 
ciferum). 
India  is  so  badly  off  for  fruit  herself,  that  she  is  not  likely  to  be 
able  to  export  any  to  this  country ;  but  the  wild  apricot  of  the 
Himalayas,  of  the  Punjaub  and  North  West  Provinces,  is  produced  in 
such  immense  quantities,  and  so  easily  cured  by  simply  drying  in  the 
sun,  that  it  might  be  imported  at  a  very  low  price.  It  is  the  Prunus 
armeniaca  of  botanists,  known  in  India  as  the  mish-mush  or  Moon  of 
the  Faithful.  This  latter  appellation  it  has  obtained  from  the  fact 
that  it  is  sometimes  pressed  out  into  sheets  or  "  moons  "  and  kept  in 
that  state  until  required  for  use.  The  delicious  fruits  of  Singapore 
and  the  Malay  peninsula,  amongst  which  the  mangosteen  and  the 
durian  are  the  best  known,  are  not  likely  to  come  direct  from  those 
countries.  The  former  has,  however,  been  fruited  both  in  Trinidad  and 
Jamaica,  and  large  trees  of  the  latter  exist  at  these  islands,  as  well  as 
at  Dominica,  Grenada  and  St.  Vincent.  Hence,  West  Indian  man- 
gosteens  and  durians  are  objects  not  impossible  to  be  seen  in  England 
during  the  next  decade. — Phar.  Jour,  and  Trans.,  July,  31,  p.  88. 
Aniline. — Dr  Go  van,  of  Rockland  County,  stated  at  the  Xew  York  Medical 
Association  that  he  had  used  aniline  oil  for  the  purpose  of  producing  local 
angesthesia  when  laying  open  felons  and  performing  other  minor  operations. 
There  was  absolutely  no  pain,  even  when  cutting  down  to  the  bone,  when  the 
finger  had  first  been  dipped  for  a  short  time  in  the  oil. — Cinci.  Lancet  and  Clinic, 
June  26, 1886. 
