Online Encyclopedia
Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.
LEMOINNE, JOHN
Online EncyclopediaEncyclopedia Home :: LAP-LEO
del.icio.us it!
|
See also:LEMOINNE, See also:
into See also:Spain between the 12th and 13th centuries. In 1494 the fruit was cultivated in the See also:Azores, and largely shipped to England, but since 1838 the exportation has ceased. As a cultivated plant the See also:lemon is now met with throughout the Mediterranean region, in Spain and See also:Portugal, in See also:California and See also:Florida, and in almost all tropical and subtropical countries. Like the See also:apple and See also:pear, it varies exceedingly under cultivation. Risso and Poiteau enumerate See also:forty-seven varieties of this fruit, although they maintain as distinct the sweet See also:lime, C. Limetta, with eight varieties, and the sweet lemon, C. Lumia, with twelve varieties, which differ only in the fruit possessing an insipid instead of an See also:acid juice.
The lemon is more delicate than the See also:orange, although, according to See also:Humboldt, both require an See also:annual mean temperature of 62° Fahr.
Unlike the orange, which presents a See also:fine See also:close See also:head of deep See also:green foliage, it forms a straggling See also:bush, or small See also:tree, Io to 12 ft. high, with paler, more scattered leaves, and See also:short angular branches with See also:sharp spines in the axils. The See also:flowers, which possess a sweet odour quite distinct from that of the orange, are in See also:part hermaphrodite and in part unisexual, the outside of the corolla having a purplish See also:hue. The fruit, which is usually crowned with a nipple, consists of an See also:outer rind or See also:peel, the See also:surface of which is more or less rough from the See also:convex oil receptacles imbedded in it, and of a See also: As lemons are much more profitable to grow than oranges, on See also:account of their keeping properties, and from their being less liable to injury during voyages, the cultivation of the lemon is preferred in See also:Italy wherever it will succeed. In See also:damp valleys it is liable like the orange (q.v.) to be attacked by a fungus sooty See also:mould, the See also:stem, leaves, and fruit becoming covered with a blackish dust. This is coincident with or subsequent to the attacks of a small See also:oval See also: The See also:remainder, consisting of See also:ill-shaped or unsound fruits, are reserved for the manufacture of essential oil and juice. The whole of the See also:sound lemons are usually packed in boxes, but those which are not exported immediately are carefully picked over and the unsound ones removed before shipment. The exportation is continued as required until See also:April and May. The large lemons with a rougher rind, which appear in the London See also:market in See also:July and See also:August, are grown at See also:Sorrento near See also:Naples, and are allowed to remain on the trees until ripe. Candied lemon peel is usually made in England from a larger variety of the lemon cultivated in Sicily on higher ground than the See also:common See also:kind, from which it is distinguished by its thicker rind and larger See also:size. This kind, known as the Spadaforese lemon, is also allowed to remain on the trees until ripe, and when gathered the fruit is cut in See also:half longitudinally and pickled in brine, before being exported in casks. Before candying the lemons are soaked in fresh See also:water to remove the See also:salt. Citrons are also exported from Sicily in the same way, but these are about six times as expensive as lemons, and a comparatively small quantity is shipped. Besides those exported from Messina and See also:Palermo, lemons are also imported into England to a less extent from the See also:Riviera of See also:Genoa, and from See also:Malaga in Spain, the latter being the most esteemed. Of the numerous varieties the See also:wax lemon, the imperial lemon and the See also:Gaeta lemon are considered to be the best. Lemons are also extensively grown in California and Florida. Lemons of See also:ordinary size contain about 2 oz. of juice, of specific gravity 1.039-1.046, yielding on an See also:average 32.5 to 42.53 grains of citric acid per oz. The amount of this acid, according to Stoddart, varies in different seasons, decreasing in lemons kept from See also:February to July, at first slowly and afterwards rapidly, until at the end of that See also:period it is all split up into See also:glucose and carbonic acid—the specific gravity of the juice being in February 1.046, in May 1.041 and in July 1.027, while the fruit is hardly altered in See also:appearance. It has been stated that lemons may be kept for some months with scarcely perceptible deterioration by varnishing them with analcoholic See also:solution of shellac—the coating thus formed being easily removed when the fruit is required for See also:household use by gently kneading it in the hands. Besides citric acid, lemon juice contains 3 to 4% of See also:gum and See also:sugar, albuminoid matters, malic acid and 2.28% of inorganic salts. See also:Cossa has determined that the ash of dried lemon juice contains 54 % of potash, besides 15 % of phosphoric acid. In the white portion of the peel (in common with other fruits of the genus) a bitter principle called hesperidin has been found. It is very slightly soluble in boiling water, but is soluble in dilute See also:alcohol and in alkaline solutions, which it soon turns of a yellow or reddish See also:colour. It is also darkened by See also:tincture of perchloride of See also:iron. Another substance named lemonin, crystallizing in lustrous plates, was discovered in 1879 by Palerno and Aglialoro in the seeds, in which it is See also:present in very small quantity, 15,000 grains of seed yielding only 8o grains of it. It differs from hesperidin in dissolving in potash without alteration. It melts at 275° F. The simplest method of preserving lemon juice in small quantities for medicinal or domestic use is to keep it covered with a layer of See also:olive or See also:almond oil in a closed See also:vessel furnished with a See also:glass tap, by which the clear liquid may be See also:drawn off as required. Lemon juice is largely used on shipboard as a preventive of See also:scurvy. By the See also:Merchant See also:Shipping See also:Act 1867 every See also:British See also:ship going to other countries where lemon or lime juice cannot be obtained was required to take sufficient to give i oz. to every member of the See also:crew daily. Of this juice it requires about 13,000 lemons to yield i See also:pipe (108 gallons). Sicilian juice in See also:November yields about 9 oz. of crude citric acid per See also:gallon, but only 6 oz. if the fruit is collected in April. The crude juice was formerly exported to England, and was often adulterated with See also:sea-water, but is now almost entirely replaced by lime juice. A concentrated lemon juice for the manufacture of citric acid is prepared in considerable quantities, chiefly at Messina and Palermo, by boiling down the crude juice in See also:copper vessels over an open See also:fire until its specific gravity is about 1.239, seven to ten pipes of raw making only one of concentrated lemon juice. " Lemon juice " for use on shipboard is prepared also from the fruits of limes and See also:Bergamot oranges. It is said to be sometimes adulterated with sulphuric acid on arrival in England. The lemon used in See also:medicine is described in the British See also:pharmacopoeia as being the fruit of Citrus medica, See also:var. Limonum. The preparations of lemon peel are of small importance. From the fresh peel is obtained the oleum limonis (dose 2-3 minims), which has the characters of its class. It contains a terpene known as citrene or limonene, which also occurs in orange peel: and citral, the aldehyde of geraniol, which is the chief constituent of oil of See also:roses. Of much importance is the succus limonis or lemon juice, 1 oz. of which contains about 40 grains of free citric acid, besides the citrate of See also:potassium (•25 %) and malic acid, free and combined. Ten per cent. of alcohol must be added to lemon juice if it is to be kept. From it are prepared the syrupus limonis (dose 1--2 drachms), which consists of sugar, lemon juice and an alcoholic See also:extract of lemon peel, and also citric acid itself. Lemon juice is practically impure citric acid (q.v.). Essence or Essential Oil of Lemon.—The essential oil contained in the rind of the lemon occurs in See also:commerce as a distinct See also:article. It is manufactured chiefly in Sicily, at Reggio in See also:Calabria, and at See also:Mentone and See also:Nice in France. The small and irregularly shaped fruits are employed while still green, in which See also:state the yield of oil is greater than when they are quite ripe. In Sicily and Calabria the oil is extracted in November and December as follows. A workman cuts three See also:longitudinal slices off each lemon, leaving a three-cornered central core having a small portion of rind at the See also:apex and See also:base. These pieces are then divided transversely and See also:cast on one See also:side, and the strips of peel are thrown in another place. Next See also:day the pieces of peel are deprived of their oil by pressing four or five times successively the outer surface of the peel (zest or flavedo) See also:bent into a convex shape, against a See also:flat sponge held in the See also:palm of the See also:left See also:hand and wrapped See also:round the forefinger. The oil vesicles in the rind, which are ruptured more easily in the fresh fruit than in the state in which lemons are imported, yield up their oil to the sponge, which when saturated is squeezed into an earthen vessel furnished with a spout and capable of holding about three pints. After a See also:time the oil separates from the watery liquid which accompanies it, and is then decanted. By this See also:process four hundred fruits yield 9 to 14 oz. of essence. The prisms of pulp are afterwards expressed to obtairi lemon juice, and then distilled to obtain the small quantity of volatile oil they contain. At Mentone and Nice a different process is adopted. The lemons are placed in an ecuelle d See also:piquet, a shallow See also:basin of See also:pewter about 82 in. in See also:diameter, having a See also:lip for pouring on one side and a closed See also:tube at the bottom about 5 in. See also:long and 1 in. in diameter. A number of stout See also:brass pins stand up about half an See also:inch from the bottom of the vessel. The workman rubs a lemon over these pins, which rupture the oil vesicles, and the oil collects in the tube, which when it becomes full is emptied into another vessel that it may See also:separate from the aqueous liquid mixed with it. When filtered it is known as Essence de citron au zeste, or, in the English market, as perfumers' essence of lemon, inferior qualities being distinguished as druggists' essence of lemon. An additional product is obtained by immersing the scarified lemons in warm water and separating the oil which floats off. Essence de citron distiller is obtained by rubbing the surface of fresh lemons (or of those which have been submitted to the See also:action of the ecuelle d piquer) on a coarse grater of tinned iron, and distilling the grated peel. The oil so obtained is colourless, and of inferior fragrance, and is sold at a See also:lower See also:price, while that obtained by the See also:cold processes has a yellow colour and powerful odour. Essence of lemon is chiefly brought from Messina and Palermo packed in copper bottles holding 25 to 50 kilogrammes or more, and sometimes in tinned bottles of smaller size. It is said to be rarely found in a state of purity in commerce, almost all that comes into the market being diluted with the cheaper distilled oil. This fact may be considered as proved by the price at which the essence of lemon is sold in England, this being less than it See also:costs the manufacturer to make it. When long kept the essence deposits a white greasy stearoptene, apparently identical with the bergaptene obtained from the essential oil of the Bergamot orange. The chief constituent of oil of lemon is the terpene, C1oH16, boiling at 348°.8 Fahr., which, like oil of See also:turpentine, readily yields crystals of terpin, C,oH,63OH2, but differs in yielding the crystalline See also:compound, C,0H,6+2C1, oil of turpentine forming one having the See also:formula C,0H,6±HCI. Oil of lemons also contains, according to See also:Tilden, another See also:hydrocarbon, C1oH16, boiling at 3.200 Fahr., a small amount of cymene, and a compound acetic See also:ether, C2H3O•C1oH17O. The natural essence of lemon not being wholly soluble in rectified spirit of See also:wine. an essence for culinary purposes is sometimes prepared by digesting 6 oz of lemon peel in one See also:pint of pure alcohol of 95 %, and, when the rind has become brittle, which takes place in about two and a half See also:hours, powdering it and percolating the alcohol through it This article is known as " lemon flavour." The name lemon is also applied to some other fruits. The See also:Java lemon is the fruit of Citrus javanica, the pear lemon of a variety of C. Limetta, and the See also:pearl lemon of C. See also:margarita. The fruit of a See also:passion-flower, Passiflora laurifolia, is sometimes known as the water-lemon, and that of a Berberidaceous plant, Podophyllum pellatumr, as the See also:wild lemon. In France and See also:Germany the lemon is known as the citron, and hence much confusion arises concerning the fruits referred to in different See also:works. The essential oil known as oil of cedrat is usually a factitious article instead of being prepared, as its name implies, from the citron (Fr. cedratier). An essential oil is also prepared from C. Lumia, at Squillace in Calabria, and has an odour like that of Bergamot but less powerful. The sour lime is Citrus acida, generally regarded as a var. (acida) of C. medica. It is a native of See also:India, ascending to about 4000 ft. in the mountains, and occurring as a small, much-branched thorny bush. The small flowers are white or tinged with See also:pink 2 7 S 6 Fla. 2.–Lime–Citrus medico, var. acida. 1, Flowering shoot. 5, Seed cut lengthwise. 2, Fruit. 6, Seed cut transversely. 3, Same cut transversely. 7, Superficial view of portion of 4, Seed. rind showing oil glands.
on the outside; the fruit is small and generally round, with a thin, See also:light green or lemon-yellow bitter rind, and a very sour, somewhat bitter juicy pulp. It is extensively cultivated throughout the See also:West Indies, especially in See also:Dominica, See also:Montserrat and See also:Jamaica, the approximate annual value of the exports from these islands being respectively 45,000, £6000 and £6000. The See also:plants are grown from seed in nurseries and planted out about 200 to the
See also:acre. They begin to bear from about the third year, but full crops are not produced until the trees are six or seven years old. The ripe yellow fruit is gathered as it falls. The fruit is bruised by hand in a See also:funnel-shaped vessel known as an ecuelle, with a hollow stem; by See also:rolling the fruit on a number of points on the side of the funnel the oil cells in the rind are broken and the oil collects in the hollow stem—this is the essential oil or essence of limes. The fruits are then taken to the See also: Green limes and pickled limes preserved in brine are largely exported to the See also:United States, and more recently green limes have been exported to the United Kingdorn. Limalade or preserved limes is an excellent substitute for See also:marmalade. A spineless See also:form of the lime appeared as a See also:sport in Dominica in 1892, and is now grown there and elsewhere on a commercial See also:scale. A form with seedless fruits has also recently been obtained in Dominica and See also:Trinidad independently. The young leaves of the lime are used for perfuming the water in See also:finger-glasses, a few being placed in the water and bruised before use. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML. Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide. |
|
|
[back] LEMNOS (mod. Limnos) |
[next] LEMON |