Galen states that the best damascenes are such as are large, spongy, and astringent. He adds that taken with sweet wine they tend to open the bowels. Oribasius says that they afford little nourishment, but may be useful for moistening and cooling the stomach. Martial calls them laxative. It appears certain from Isidorus, that the coccymela and myxæ were the same as the pruna or plums. The principal variety is the prunus insiticia, or bullace plum.
Galen says of jujubes, that they suit best with the intemperaments of women and children; but that they give little nourishment. Haly Abbas states that they are cold and humid, of slow digestion, and apt to form phlegm. They are the serica of Galen, who, however, also applies the other term (zizypha) to them. (De Alim. ii, 38.)
Abu’l-fadli, as quoted by Olaus Celsius, says of the siliquæ or carobs, that they are sweet astringent fruit. Horace speaks of them as being an inferior kind of fruit. “Vivit siliquis et pane secundo.” (Ep. ii, 1.) And so, also, Juvenal (Sat. xi, 59), and Persius (iii, 55.) Galen says of them that they are woody and consequently indigestible. Aëtius says that they are of a dry and very desiccative nature, but possess some sweetness. Pliny mentions that a sort of wine was prepared from carobs.
Galen says that the sycamores hold an intermediate place between mulberries and figs. He says, further, that they are sweetish, and of a diluent and cooling nature. Dioscorides and Serapion speak unfavorably of them as being articles of food which are only used in times of famine.
The citron, or “felix malum” of Virgil (Georg. ii, 126), was greatly esteemed by the ancients. Galen calls it fragrant, aromatic, and pleasant to the taste as well as the smell. From Theophrastus downwards, it is much celebrated as an antidote to poisons. See some curious information respecting it in Athenæus (Deipnos. iii), and Macrobius (Sat. iii, 19.) Simeon Seth says that if taken in moderation it is beneficial to the stomach, but that in large quantity it proves indigestible. Serapion recommends after eating citrons to take of anise, mastich, and wine. No Greek or Latin author has noticed the lemon. Avicenna, we believe, is the first author who mentions it.
Galen says, in general, of the wild kinds of fruit, that they supply little nourishment, and that they are injurious to the stomach. The acorns, he says further, are the best of this class, being no less nutritious than the cerealia; he adds, that in ancient times men lived upon acorns; and that the Arcadians continued this practice after the cerealia were used in all the other parts of Greece. Simeon Seth says that, although nutritious, they are difficult to digest and form crude humours: and hence he recommends to abstain from them. It is well ascertained that it was the acorns of the quercus ilex which the ancients used for food.
Galen’s opinion of chesnuts agrees with the account given by our author of them. Simeon Seth says that they are very nutritious, but are hard to digest and evacuate from the body; and that they are flatulent and astringent. Haly Abbas describes them as a proper article of food. At the present day, whole nations of mankind live upon chesnuts. The opinion of Mnisitheus regarding them, as quoted by Athenæus, appears to be very judicious; he says they are difficult to digest and flatulent, but sufficiently nutritious if digested.
The strawberries, or fraga, are mentioned by Virgil (Ec. iii), and Ovid (Metam. i); but they are wholly unnoticed by the Greek writers.
We consider ourselves here called upon not to pass over unnoticed the fruit of the lotus tree, which is so celebrated in ancient poetry, and is also mentioned by the historians and writers on science. It is now well ascertained that the lotus-bread is produced by various trees in the country surrounding the great desert of Africa. The most celebrated of these trees, or rather shrubs, is the celtis australis. Rennel and Park agree that its fruit is very wholesome. On the lotus, see further, Eustathius (in Odyss. p. 337, ed. Rom.); Dionys. (Geograph.); Schweigh (ad Athen. Deipnos. xiv, 65.)