166 MEDICAL BOTANY. 



The varieties of the orange are almost endless. Some are seedless, some 

 are filled with a blood-red pulp, and some monstrous and distorted. The bit- 

 ter orange has usually been considered as one of these varieties, but is now 

 ranked by many writers as a distinct species, though except in the character 

 of the fruit, the differences are very slight. The orange is originally a native 

 of the warmer parts of Asia, but has long been naturalized in the South of 

 Europe, and more recently in the tropical parts of America. It has been 

 also supposed to be a native of the Canary Islands or Hesperides, and its fruit 

 to have been that fabled to have been guarded by a dragon. Under this idea 

 Ventenat called the order Hesperidce, and it was also the origin of the name 

 bestowed on the fruit by some botanists, Hesperidium. It was introduced 

 into Europe from India, and Salessio, who has investigated the subject with 

 much care, states that it was brought there by the Arabs, who introduced the 

 sweet kind, through Persia, to Syria, and thence to Italy, whilst the bitter 

 species were carried by Arabia, Egypt, and the north of Africa, to Spain. 

 At the time of the Crusades, the orange was found to be abundant in Judea, 

 and was supposed to be a native of the country. But there is no direct evi- 

 dence to show that the ancients, either in Europe or Syria, were acquainted 

 with this fruit, whilst there is much to prove that the introduction of it 

 into those countries, was due to the Arabs. Loudon says, " It is remarka- 

 ble that there are no authentic records existing of any species of Citrus having 

 been known, certainly of none being cultivated, by the Romans. It is now 

 generally admitted that the mala aurea' of the Latin poets, is the quince, and 

 not the orange, and the lines in the second book of the Georgics, usually quoted 

 as evincing Virgil's knowledge of this fruit, evidently refer to the citron or 

 lemon. As far as can be ascertained, the orange was not introduced into 

 Italy until the fourteenth century, and thence gradually spread to other parts 

 of Europe, and was carried over to America soon after its discovery." 



The oranges used in this country are partly the growth of the more ' 

 southern portions of it, as Georgia, Florida, and Louisiana, but the larger 

 part come from the West India Islands, the Mediterranean, and the Azores. 

 In every part of the United States they are liable to be injured by frosts, and 

 hence cannot be considered as a certain crop ; where this is not the case, the 

 orange is a most prolific plant, and the quantity borne by a single tree is 

 sometimes enormous ; thus it is said that 20,000 have been gathered from 

 one in St. Michael's, exclusive of those unfit for use which may be calculated 

 at 10,000 more. 



The orange contains a large quantity of saccharine matter and mucilage 

 united to an agreeable acid, and hence is wholesome, cooling, and refreshing 

 to the sick, especially in febrile and inflammatory complaints, but should 

 always be used cautiously, as it is apt to disorder the stomach and bowels. 

 In India, according to Ainslie, the Hindoo physicians esteem oranges very 

 highly as a medicine, asserting that they purify the blood, allay thirst, cure 

 catarrh, and improve the appetite. The juice of this fruit contains citric and 

 malic acids, the super-citrate of lime, mucilage, sugar and water. 



The rind or peel of the sweet orange is also used as a substitute for that of 

 the bitter species, which is the true officinal article ; it yields, by distillation, 

 a fragrant essential oil. The immature fruit is also employed for the purpose 

 of making issue peas; for this purpose they are turned smooth by a lathe : 

 they have an aromatic odour and a bitter taste, and are also employed to 

 flavour certain cordials. According to Lebreton, they are composed of vola- 

 tile oil, sulphur, fatty matter, a peculiar principle called hesperidin, bitter 

 astringent matter, some traces of acids, vegetable and mineral salts, &c. 



The leaves have been employed by some practitioners as a remedy in many 



