56 MEALS MEDICINAL. 
adding half a cup of water poured in, also a cupful of brown 
sugar, and two tablespoonfuls of molasses. The dish is then 
finished off with a crust of sliced scones, and covered over by a 
plate, to be baked in a slow oven for one and a half hours. When 
done, the “ Pan dowdy” is turned out, and served with sweet 
sauce, or cream, if appropriate. This is an excellent form of 
food for growing children in cold weather. 
The botanical name of an apple tree is Pyrus malus, of which 
schoolboys are wont to make ingenious uses by playing on the 
latter word :— 
** Malo, I had rather be, 
Malo, in an apple-tree, 
Malo, than a wicked man, 
Malo, in adversity. 
Or, again, “ Mea mater mala est sus,’ which bears as its most - 
literal translation, “ My mother is a depraved old sow,” but the 
intentional reading of which signifies, “ Run, mother! the sow 
is eating our apples.” The term “ Adam’s apple,” which is 
applied to the most prominent part in front of a person’s neck, 
is based on the superstition that a piece of the forbidden fruit 
stuck in Adam’s throat, and caused this lump to remain. When 
Sam Weller, in Pickwick, had to affix his signature to a couple 
of legal instruments at the Bank of England for proving his 
mother-in-law’s will, this undertaking, “from Mr. Weller’s 
habit of printing, was a work of so much labour and time that the 
officiating clerk peeled, and ate three Ribstone pippins while it 
was performing.” “There was concocted in Gerard’s day an 
ointment with the pulpe of apples, and swines’ grease, and rose- 
water, which was used to beautifie the face, and to take away 
the roughnesse of the skin, and which was called in the shops 
* pomatum,’ from the apples, ‘ poma’ whereof it was prepared.” 
Figuratively the “apples of Sodom” signify something which 
disappoint one’s hopes, or frustrate one’s desires. They sym- 
bolize a fruit which was formerly reputed to grow on, or near 
the site of the Biblical city, Sodom. It was, as described by 
Josephus, and other writers, externally of fair appearance, but 
turning to smoke and ashes when plucked. 
Among the Thebans of old the apple was held sacred to 
Hercules. They were long accustomed to offer a sheep annually 
on the altar of this deity, but upon one occasion, because of the 
river being swollen with heavy rains, they could not convey 
