LEMON TREE.
Among the richest productions of Media, Virgil mentions a tree, to whose fruit he attributes the greatest virtues against all poisons. The description he gives of it seems to belong to the lemon tree.[XIII_25] However this may be, its origin, and even its identity, have given rise to the most animated disputations.
Many have asserted that Juba, King of Mauritania (50 years B.C.), spoke of the lemon tree, and that he looked upon it as being very ancient. They add, that the Lybians gave to its fruit the name of “Hesperide apples,” that Hercules stole, and which, on account of their colour, were called “golden apples” by the Greeks, who were indebted to that hero for their introduction.[XIII_26]
Others maintain that no one has spoken of them before Theophrastus,[XIII_27] who called them “Median apples,” after the place of their origin; and that consequently those persons were wrong who confounded them with the apples taken from the garden of the Hesperides.[XIII_28]
These difficulties will probably disappear, if we remember that the ancients have given to the lemon tree various names[XIII_29] which belong to other trees. The truth is, that the Athenians received it from the Persians, who were neighbours of the Medes, and from Attica it spread all over Greece.[XIII_30]
Lemons were only known to the Romans at a very late period, and at first were used only to keep the moths from their garments. The acidity of this fruit was unpleasant to them, and Apicius makes no use of it: those who wish to satisfy their curiosity on the subject may read the remarks of Lister, the celebrated physician of Queen Anne, and editor of the works of this famous gourmet.[XIII_31]
In the time of Pliny, the lemon was hardly known otherwise than as an excellent counter-poison.[XIII_32]
Fifty years after that, Palladius reared the plants which he had received from Media,[XIII_33] and at last this tree was slowly naturalized in the south of Europe.
A considerable number of anecdotes have been told of the anti-venomous properties of the lemon. Athenæus speaks of two men who did not feel pain from the bite of dangerous serpents, because they had previously eaten of this fruit.[XIII_34] Either this story is false, or men and things have strangely altered.
Apicius preserves lemons by putting each of them into a separate vessel, which is hermetically sealed with plaster, and afterwards suspended from the ceiling.[XIII_35]
In another place we shall speak of the tables and beds made of the lemon tree, so fashionable amongst the Romans, and for which they spent prodigious sums.
One thing remains to be noticed; and that is, that preserved lemon peel was considered as one of the best digestives, and that doctors recommend it to weak and delicate persons.[XIII_36]