182 PHARMACOPEIAL DRUGS 



culture. The use of the lemon as a grateful acid in 

 drinks and cordials, as well as the peel of the fruit as a 

 flavoring material in medicine, seems to have been 

 known to primitive humanity. The introduction of the 

 lemon parallels somewhat the record of the orange. 

 Possibly the most authoritative dissertation on the 

 lemon, which embodies the history of the citrus family 

 generally, is that by Dr. Charles Rice, (548a), published 

 in New Remedies, (467a), August, September and Oc- 

 tober, 1878. With his characteristic thoroughness, 

 Dr. Rice gives in the body of his work and in numerous 

 footnotes a world of information concerning the deriva- 

 tion of the name of each member of the citrus family 

 used in commerce, together with the record of its 

 products. From this we quote, as follows: 



"Lemon is from the Arabic limun and this, by way of 

 the Persian, is related to the Hindu limu, limbu, or 

 nimbu. Adam already in his Hindi-Kosha, (Calcutta, 

 1829), translates the Sanskrit nimbu into Hindi limu. 

 This translation is no doubt correct, but the Sanskrit 

 has evidently coined or adopted the word from the 

 North 'Indian vernaculars. In Cashmeer it is still 

 called nimbu. There are many names in Sanskrit for 

 the Citrus-fruits, a number of them standing for lemon. 

 The Madanavinoda (see New Remedies, Aug. 1878, 

 p. 231), (467a), mentions two kinds of nimbu (or nim- 

 buka), one of which is sour, and the other sweet. 

 Another native term is nisbu, according to the Sab- 

 dakalpadruma. The Medievo-Greek is leimonion 

 lemone. The lemon is first mentioned in the book on 

 Nabathsean Agriculture, under the name hasia (see 

 Meyer, Gesch. d. Bot. Ill, (68)." Dr. Charles Rice, New 

 Remedies, Sept., 1878. 



