APP′LE (ăp′l). Syn. Ma′lum, Po′mum, L.; Pomme, Fr.; Apfel, Ger.; Appel, Dut.;
Aple, Swed. This well-known fruit is the product of the cultivated varieties of pyrus malus (Linn.), or the crab-apple of our hedges; a tree of the nat. ord. Rosaceæ. The date of its amelioration from the wild state is probably very remote, as several kinds are noticed by Pliny in a manner that would lead to the inference of a high antiquity. Pippins, or ‘seedling improved apples,’ are said to have been introduced into this country from the South of Europe towards the end of the 16th century. Don enumerated 1400 varieties of the cultivated apple; there are now probably above 1650. Rennet apples (POMA RENETTIA) are those ordered in the P. Cod. to be used in pharmacy. In botany and composition, the term apple (POMUM) is used to designate any large, round, fleshy fruit, consisting of a ‘pericarp,’ enclosing a tough ‘capsule’ containing several seeds; as love-apple, pine-apple, &c.
The wood of the apple-tree is much used in turnery; that of the crab-tree is generally preferred by mill-wrights for the teeth of mortise-wheels.
The expressed juice of 1 cwt. of ripe apples, after the free acid has been saturated with chalk, yields from 11 to 13 lbs. of a very sweet, but uncrystallisable sugar.
Apples have been analysed by Fresenius, and were found to have the following composition:—
| Soluble Matter— | |
| Sugar | 7·58 |
| Free acid (reduced to equivalent in malic acid) | 1·04 |
| Albuminous substance | 0·22 |
| Pectous substances, &c. | 2·72 |
| Ash | 0·44 |
| Insoluble Matter— | |
| Seeds | 0·38 |
| Skins | 1·44 |
| Pectose | 1·14 |
| [Ash from insoluble matter included in weights given] | [0·13] |
| Water | 85·04 |
| ——— | |
| 100·00 |
Love′-apple‡. The tomato.
Mad′-apple‡. The larger Mecca or Bussorah gall. They are also called Dead-sea apples, a. of Sodom, &c. See Galls.
Acid of Apples. Malic acid.
A′PRICOT. Syn. A′pricock†; Armeni′acum ma′lum, Præco′tium, L.; Abricot, Fr.; Aprikose, Ger. The fruit of armeniaca vulgaris (Lamb.; prunus armeniaca, Linn.), a rosaceous tree indigenous in Armenia, Cachmere, &c., and now cultivated in every temperate region of the world. Under the name of præcox it was known in Italy in the time of Dioscorides; but it was not introduced into England until the reign of Henry VIII (A.D. 1540). Its cultivation has since been zealously attended to by our gardeners, and it is now one of the choicest and most esteemed of our wall-fruits, and is particularly valued for desserts. It is reputed to be nutritious, easy of digestion, laxative, and stomachic. The seeds are bitter and saponaceous.