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Birds and All Nature, Vol. V, No 1, January 1899

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<h2>THE LEMON.</h2> DR. ALBERT SCHNEIDER, Northwestern University School of Pharmacy, Chicago. THE lemon is the fruit of a small tree from ten to fifteen feet high. It is not particularly beautiful, being rather shrubby in its appearance. It is an evergreen, bearing leaves, flowers, and fruit all the year round. The flowers occur singly in the axils of the leaves. The calyx is persistent, that is, it does not drop off like the corolla, and may be found attached to the base of the fruit. The corolla consists of five spreading petals of a purplish-pink color. The lemons of the market are from cultivated plants of which there is a large number of varieties. These cultivated varieties or forms took their origin from the wild lemon trees native in northern India, in the mountain forests of the southern Himalayas, in Kumoan, and Sikkim. Lemons have been known for a long time. They were brought to the notice of the Greeks during the invasion of Alexander the Great into Media where the golden-yellow fruit attracted the attention of the warriors who gave them the name of Median apples (Mala medica). Later, Greek warriors also found this fruit in Persia, and hence named it Persian apples (Mala persica). The eminent Greek philosopher and naturalist Theophrastus, 390 B. C., described the fruit as inedible, though endowed with a fragrant odor, and having the power to keep away insects. On account of this latter property the so-called Median apple was, by some, supposed to be identical with the fruit of the cedar (Kedros) and therefore received the name "Citrus" from which is derived "citrone," the German name, and "citronnier," the French name for the fruit. Our word lemon is said to have been derived from the Indian word limu and the Arabian word limun. It seems that at the time of the great Roman historian and naturalist, Pliny (23-79 A. D.), the lemon was not yet extensively cultivated. Dioscarides (50 A. D.) speaks highly of the medicinal virtues of the bitter and acrid wild-growing lemon. Cælius Aurelianus recommends lemon juice in gout and fevers. In 150 A. D., the lemon tree, evidently introduced, was found growing about Naples and in Sardinia, but the fruit was still inedible. About the third century cultivation had so far improved the fruit that it could be eaten. The Arabians are credited with first having introduced the lemon tree into southern Europe. The noted Arabian geographer, Edrisi, twelfth century, describes the lemon as very sour and about the size of an apple and the plant as growing only in India. This latter statement is, however, erroneous as the lemon had already been extensively cultivated in southern and eastern Spain, where it was introduced by the agriculturally-inclined Moors. It has been cultivated for many centuries in nearly all of the countries bordering on the Mediterranean Sea and is now also extensively cultivated in the tropical and sub-tropical countries and islands of the Western Hemisphere. One variety or species, (Citrus lemetta), is a native of the East Indies and is extensively cultivated in the West Indies. Lemon trees are found everywhere in the larger green houses and conservatories along with the closely related orange (Citrus vulgaris.) As the result of cultivation there are now about fifty varieties of lemons in existence. Some of these are comparatively sweet or rather insipid and are therefore known as sweet lemons. The sour varieties are, however, more generally cultivated. Lest I forget I will here state that the lemon is not [Pg 14] identical, though closely related, with the Citron, the fruit of the Citrus medica. As above stated the lemon tree bears fruit all the year round so that a number of crops are gathered annually. There are, however, three principal crops collected as follows: The first from July to the middle of September; the second in November; and the third in January. Frequently there are also collections in April and in May. The tree is rather delicate, not as hardy as the orange, for example. In upper Italy it even becomes necessary to cover the trees during the winter months. Lemons intended for shipment are picked before they are fully ripe and packed in barrels or boxes holding from 400 to 700. When exposed the fruit shrinks and loses in weight very rapidly, due to the evaporation of moisture from the pulpy interior. In Italy each lemon is wrapped in tissue paper to protect it against injury and to reduce the evaporation of moisture. Sometimes they are coated with collodion or covered with lead foil to reduce the loss of moisture. The lemon is put to various uses. The yellow rind contains many minute cavities which are filled with a fixed oil and an ethereal oil to which the fruit owes its fragrant odor. In Italy the oil is obtained in a very crude way. The peel is cut into three longitudinal slices. The workman takes one of these in his right hand, in the left he grasps a small sponge; by pressing the sponge against the outer surface of the rind so that it becomes concave, the oil-bearing sacs are ruptured and the oil absorbed by the sponge. This is repeated until the sponge becomes saturated, when the juice is squeezed into a cup or other vessel. I am very much afraid that the sponge and the hands of the workman are not always clean. I have been informed that an attempt to introduce machinery for extracting the oil was forcibly resisted. It is also stated that the oil obtained by the "sponge process" is more valuable than that obtained by machinery and distillation. The bitter taste so evident in the lemon is due to limonin and hesperidin, which occur most abundantly in the rind. The sour taste of the lemon is due to citric acid, which is found in the large cells forming the pulpy interior. Of course the sap is largely water, about 97.5 per cent., with about 2 per cent. citric acid. The amount of acid varies, however, even rising to 9 or 10 per cent. The juice is easily expressed and is put to various uses. Lemonade is largely consumed on ships, as it is said to prevent ship scurvy. Washing face and hands with diluted lemon juice is said to remove tan and freckles. The beneficial properties of lemon juice, lemonade, in fevers is due to its cooling and refreshing effects, and also to the fact that it acts as a heart sedative, thus tending to lower the temperature. Lemon juice has been highly recommended in acute rheumatism and also to counteract the effects of certain poisons, especially opium. The essential oil of lemon acts as a stimulant and has been used in diseases of the eye (ophthalmia). It also serves to give an agreeable odor to certain medicines, and is used in the manufacture of perfumery and as a flavoring agent for confectionery. The lemon peel is used in medicine. Candied lemon peel is a confection prepared by boiling the peel in syrup and then allowing the sugar to crystallize. The following is a description of the excellently colored plate: A is a flowering and fruit-bearing twig, nearly natural size; 1 is a single flower, somewhat magnified; 2, stamens and pistil; 3, ovary in longitudinal sections; 3a, ovary in cross section; 4, anthers; 4a, pollen-grains; 5, fruit, nearly natural size; 6, cross-section of fruit showing rind, large-celled pulp and seeds; 7, 8, and 9, seeds. [Pg 15] <table class="sp2 mc w50 p2" title="LEMON." summary="LEMON."> <tbody> <tr> <td colspan="3"> <ANTIMG style="width:100%" src="images/i_031.jpg" width="507" height="600" alt="" /> </td> </tr> <tr> <td class="xx-smaller ac w30">FROM K&OElig;HLER'S MEDICINAL-PFLANZEN.</td> <td class="x-smaller ac w40">LEMON.</td> <td class="xx-smaller ac w30"> </td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <hr class="chap" /> [Pg 17] <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

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