296 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES. 



from the real one: "As for the fruits of Sodom, 

 fair without and full of ashes within," says he, " / 

 saw nothing of them: but from the testimony we 

 have, something of the kind has been produced ; 

 but I imagine they may be pomegranates, which, 

 having a tough, hard rind, and being left on the 

 trees for two or three years, the inside may be dried 

 to dust and the outside remain firm." Mariti, who 

 visited those regions thirty years after Pocock, men- 

 tions that "No person could point out to me in the 

 neighbourhood that species of fruit called the apples 

 of Sodom, which, being fresh and of a beautiful 

 colour in appearance, fall to dust as soon as they are 

 touched." Hasselquist, however, not only found the 

 apples, but the plant, referred it to the Linnaean 

 species of Solanum melongena, and pointed out the 

 cause of the disease; and though, in the more recent 

 and accurate division of the genus Solanum, to which 

 allusion has been made, the name of Sodomeum has 

 been substituted for that of melongena, the fruit and 

 the disease have been proved to be as Hasselquist 

 stated. 



Solanum melongena is more common in the mar- 

 kets of Constantinople than either of the former sorts, 

 being almost as abundant as the gourd and the melon, 

 and used for nearly the same purposes. There are 

 several varieties of this solanum. The first appear- 

 ance of the plant, it is said, is always attended with 

 a north-east wind of some continuance; and, there- 

 fore, the ships for the Black Sea sail before this 

 harbinger, or rather companion, of bad weather 

 comes forth. This is probably one of the super- 

 stitions which in all countries attach to matters so 

 uncertain as the weather. 



