292 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES. 



This would have been a valuable discovery, but it is 

 found that the empyreumatic taint which it imparts 

 to any substance immersed in it cannot be quite 

 removed by any subsequent culinary process. 



The greatest consumption of this acid is in the 

 business of the dyer and of the calico-printer. When 

 purified it is used for pickles and other culinary 

 purposes, where acid of great strength is required. 



The peculiar acid contained in the juice of citrons, 

 lemons, limes, and a variety of other fruits, is dis- 

 tinguished by the name of Citric acid. This is of 

 very extensive use; and lemon juice, as well as its 

 concentrated acid, is employed for a variety of pur- 

 poses connected with the arts. 



Lemon juice is exported in large casks from the 

 south of Italy into Germany and the north of 

 Europe, as well as into this country. Naples and 

 Sicily furnish the greater part of these supplies. 



Juice thus kept deposits much foot*, and if the 

 clear liquor be racked off, it may be preserved for 

 some time, especially if it be covered with a thin 

 stratum of sweet oil and stored in a cool cellar. 

 But there is some difficulty in obtaining the juice in 

 a state for preservation from the country where it is 

 produced. A writer from Sicily observes, " As soon 

 as the country people press the juice it is brought 

 into Messina for sale. The buyers do not afford it 

 warehouse room, but roll the casks into the street, 

 where it is exposed to the weather and the heat of 

 the sun until an opportunity offers for shipping it. 

 It is therefore not surprising that so much is im- 

 ported that is musty and spoiled, and that the English 

 merchants often find it so bad on its arrival in Eng- 

 land as to create a difficulty in procuring for it even 



* This is not entirely refuse, as a species of essence of lemon 

 i,s distilled from it, and is used in confectionary, 



