CORTEX AURANTII. 125 



to the Arabian physicians, one of whom, Avicenna,^ employed its juice 

 in medicine. 



There is strong evidence to show that the orange first cultivated in 

 Europe was the Bitter Orange or Bigarade. The orange tree at Rome, 

 said to have been planted by St. Dominic about A.D. 1200, and which 

 still exists at the monastery of St. Sabina, bears a bitter fruit; and the 

 ancient trees standing in the garden of the Alcazar at Seville are also 

 of this variety. Finally, the oranges of Syria {ah indigenis Orenges 

 nuncwpati) described by Jacques de Vitri, Bishop of Aeon {oh. A.D. 

 1214) were acidi sen pontici sapons.^ 



The Sweet Orange beoran to be cultivated about the middle of the 

 15th century, having been introduced from the East by the Portuguese. 

 It has probably long existed in Southern China, and may have been 

 taken thence to India. In the latter country there are but few dis- 

 tricts in which its cultivation is successful, and the Bitter Orange is 

 hardly known at all. The name it has long borne of China^ or Portugal 

 Orange indicates what has been the usual opinion as to its origin. It 

 probably alludes more exactly to a superior variety brought about 1630 

 from China to Portugal.'* 



One of the first importations of oranges into England occurred in 

 A.D. 1290, in which year a Spanish ship came to Portsmouth, of the 

 cargo of which the queen of Edward I. bought one frail of Seville figs, 

 one of rasins or grapes, one bale of dates, 230 pomegranates, 15 citrons, 

 and 7 oranges i^' poma de orenge")^ 



Description — The Bitter Orange known in London as the Setnlle 

 Orange is a globular fruit, resembling in size, form, and structure the 

 common Sweet Orange, but having the peel much rougher, and when 

 mature of a somewhat deeper hue. The pulp of the fruit is filled with 

 an acid bitter juice. The ripe fruit is imported into London; the peel 

 is removed from it with a sharp knife in one long spiral strip, and 

 quickly dried, or it is sold in the fresh state. It is the more esteemed 

 when cut thin, so as to include as little as possible of the white inner 

 layer. 



Well-dried orange peel should be externally of a bright tint and 

 white on its inner surface; it should have a grateful aromatic smell 

 and bitter taste. The peel is also largely imported into London ready 

 dried, especially from Malta. We have observed it from this latter 

 place of three qualities, namely in elliptic pieces or quarters, in broad 

 curled strips, and lastly a very superior kind, almost wholly free from 

 white zest, in strips less than \ of an inch in width, cut apparently by a 

 machine. Such needless subdivision as this last has undergone must 

 greatly favour an alteration and waste of the essential oil. Foreign- 

 dried orange peel fetches a lower price than that dried in England. 



Microscopic Structure — There is no difference between the tissues 

 of this drug and those of lemon peel. 



^ Opera, ed. Valgrisi 1564. lib. v. sum. 1. * Hence theDutch Sinaasappel or Appel- 



tract. 9. p. 289. — The passage, which is the sina and the German Apfelsine. 



following, seems rather inconclusive : — "* Goeze, Beitrag zur Kenntriiss der Oran- 



". . succi acetositatis citri et succi acetosi- j/en^reu-ac/t-se, Hamburg, 1874.29. 



tatis citranguli." 5 Manners and Household Expenses of 



^ Vitriaco, Hist, orient, et accident. 1597. Emjland in the \Zth and 15th centuries, 



cap. 86. Lond. (Roxburghe Club) 1841. xlviij. 



