122 AUKANTIACE^. 



pear; he adds that it is got by squeezing small bits of the peel 



with the fingers in a bottle or globe large enough to allow the 

 hand to enter. 



Volkamer of Nuremberg, who produced a fine work on the Citron 

 tribe in 1708, has a chapter on the Limon Bergamotta, -which he 



intp,r omnp.,^ nohilif^,'^imiis. He 



Italians 



frudiis 



are 



sold at a high price.^ 



-^^^ - — ■ — — ^"^ ^^ ^ 



But, as shown by one of us,^ the essential oil of bergamot had 

 already, in 1688, a place among the stores of an apothecary of the 



Gorman town of Giessen. 



The name Bergamotta was originally applied to a large kind of 

 pear, called in Turkish " beg-armudi," i.e. prince's pear.^ 



Production— The bergamot is cultivated at Reggio, on low ground 

 near the sea, and in the adjacent villages. The trees are often inter- 

 mixed with lemon and orange trees, and the soil is well irrigated and 

 cropped with vegetables. 



The essential oil {Oleum BergmnottcB) is obtained from the full- 

 grown but still unripe and more or less green fruits, gathered in the 

 months of November and December. They are richer in oil than any 

 one of the allied fruits. It was formerly made like that of lemon by 

 the sponge-process, but during the last 20 years this method has been 

 generally superseded by the introduction of a special machine for the 

 extraction of the essential oil. In this machine the fruits are placed m 

 a strong, saucer-like, metallic dish, about 10 inches in diameter, having 

 m the centre a raised opening which with the outer edge forms a 

 broad groove or channel ; the dish is fitted with a cover of similar 

 torm. Ihe inner surface both of the dish and cover is rendered rough 

 I ^ f^T^ °^ narrow, radiating metal ridges of blades which are 

 about ^ of an inch high and resemble the backs of knifes. The dish is 

 also turmshed with some small openings to allow of the outflow.ot 

 essential oil ; and both dish and cover are arranged in a metallic cyhn- 

 aer, placed over a vessel to receive the oil. By a simple arrangement 

 ot cog-wheels moved by a handle, the cover, which is very heavy, is 

 made to revolve rapidly over the dish, and the fruit lying in the groove 

 Detween the two is carried round, and at the same time is subjected to 

 tne action of the sharp ridges, which, rupturing the oil-vessels, cause 

 the essence to escape, and set it free to flow out by the small opening 

 m the bottom_ of the dish. The fruits are placed in the machine, 6, b, 

 Zif^'\ "" time, according to their size, and subjected to the rotator) 

 stoZ f'T ^^^^^^^e<i ^OT about half a minute, when the machine is 

 fSt I ""'l '^^°'^^^^' ^^^^ fre«h ones substituted. About 7,000 

 ^e d nf n-i ''''' .^,\^o^ked in one of these machines in a day. The 



that^obtail?! ^,f 'Sfinot made by the machine is of a greener tint than 

 tliat obtamed by the old sponge-process. During some weeks after 



cap.^STnd'p'^Set"^--^-. '^''- ''''■ 3- ' Information, for which I am indebted 



the Latin JiSon) ' ^^^' 1^«*« ^'^^^ to Dr. Eice.-The name has nojefer^^/^J 

 ^ Fluckiger, I)ocu„ip„u.. n ... *« ^he town of Bergamo, where berga 



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