OLEUM BERGAMOTT^. 121 



1877 the export of these essential oils from Messina amounted to 

 306,948 kilogrammes, valued at 6,130,960 lire. 



Uses — Essence of lemon is used in perfumery, and as a flavouring 

 ingredient ; and though much sold by druggists is scarcely employed 

 in medicine. 



Adulteration — Few drugs are more rarely to be found in a state 

 of purity than essence of lemon. In fact it is stated that almost all 

 that comes into the market is more or less diluted with oil of turpen- 

 tine or with the cheaper distilled oil of lemons. Manufacturers of the 

 essence complain that the demand for a cheap article forces them to 

 this falsification of their product. 



OLEUM BERGAMOTTiE. 



Oleum Bergamii ; Essence or Essential Oil of Bergatriot ; F. Essence 

 de Bergamotte ; G. Bergamottol. 



Botanical Origin — Citi'us Bergamia var. vulgaris Risso et 

 Poiteau,^ a small tree closely resembling in flowers and foliage the 

 Bitter Orange. Its fruit is 2 1 to 3 inches in diameter, nearly spherical, 

 or slightly pear-shaped, frequently crowned by the persistent style ; it 

 is of a pale golden yellow like a lemon,^ with the peel smooth and thin, 

 abounding in essential oil of a peculiar fragrance ; the pulp is pale 

 yellowish green, of a bitterish taste, and far less acid than that 

 of the lemon. 



The tree is cultivated at Reggio in Calabria, and is unknown in a 

 wild state. 



History — The bergamot is one of the cultivated forms which 

 abound in the genus Citrus, and which constitute the innumerable 

 varieties of the orange, lemon and citron. Whether it is most nearly 

 related to the lemon or to the orange is a point discussed as early as 

 the beginning of the last century. Gallesio^ remarks that it so evi- 

 dently combines the characters of the two that it should be regarded 

 as a hybrid between them. The bergamot first appeared in the 

 latter part of the 17th century. It is not mentioned in the grand 

 work on orange trees of Ferrari,* published at Rome in 1646, nor in 

 the treatise of Commelyn' (1676), nor in the writings of Lanzoni 

 (1690)," or La Quintinie (1692).'^ So far as we know, it is first noticed 

 in a little book called Le Parfuvieur Frangois, printed at Lyons in 

 1693. The author who calls himself Le Sieur Barhe, jmrfumeur, says 

 that the Essence de Cedra on Berga-motte is obtained from the fruits 

 of a lemon-tree which has been grafted on the stem of a bersramot 



^ Ilistoire naturelle des Orangers, Paris, ^ Fig. in Bentley and Trimen, Med. 



1818. p. 111. tab. 53, or the same work, Plants, part 31. 



new edition, by Dubreuil, 1873, p. 82. ^ Traiie du Citrus, 1811. 118. 



We accept the name given by these * Hesperides, seu de malorum, aureorum 



authors for the sake of convenience and cidtura et usu. 



definiteness, and not because we concur * Nederlantze Hesperides, Amatevd. 1676. 



in their opinion that the Bergamot de- fol. (an English translation in 1683). 



serves to be ranked as a distinct botanical ^ CUrologia, Ferrarise, 1690. 



species. ~ Instruction pour les Jardins fruitiers... 



avec vn traits des Orangers, ed. 2, 1692. 



