Lemon
Lemon names 2 different subjects across the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf. Each is set out below. 1 of them is described by more than one encyclopedia.
Lemon the fruit of a small tree (Citrus Limonum) belonging
Described by 2 of the 6 encyclopedias.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
the fruit of a small tree (Citrus Limonum) belonging to the same natural order as the orange (Aurantiaceæ). There are many varieties of the lemon, but they may all be in-fo cluded under the following four distinct types: (1) The common or lemon, which is the most plentiful in the shops. ( 2) The thin - skinned lemon, which is of large size, having a thin, smooth shining fragrant rind. The pulp is very delicate and juicy, with a deli- ( 3) The sweet lemon, cious aroma. which, while having the external appearance of the lemon, has the pulp sweet like that of the orange. (4) The citron lemon, or the Ligurian lemon of com- It is a large oblong fruit, with merce. a thick, rough warted rind, which is eatable. The pulp, however, is the least delicate of all lemons. The peculiar and grateful flavor of the juice of the lemon is mainly due to citric acid. The most valuable of its properties, however, is the of scurvy. The prevention and cure well known use of the rind, either fresh or preserved, in the cook's and the confectioner's arts for flavoring and ornamenting dishes, cakes, and candies need only be alluded to. The essential oil is obtained from the rind. The lemon is largely cultivated in all the warmer countries of the S. of Europe and those bordering on the Mediterranean, and it is naturalized in some parts of South America and in the East and West Indies, and in parts of Australia. The oil or essence of lemons is extracted from the fresh lemon peel either by pressure or by distillation. It enters into most perfumes, such as eau de Cologne, etc. The so-called salt of lemons, or salt of sorrel, is the binoxalate of potash.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
a citrous fruit related to the orange. Like the orange, the lemon is a native of India but is less hardy and requires a situation with slight if any frost. The fine lemons of Europe are from Mediterranean countries. The best are from Sicily. Our lemon districts are Florida and California. The lemon groves of Florida were injured by the heavy frosts of 1894-1895, but are recovering. California shipped 5,378 carloads of lemons eastward in 1905, but we still import heavily from Italy. Lemons grow on small, spreading trees or shrubs about ten or fifteen feet high. The flowers hang in whitish clusters. Their fragrance is less heavy than that of orange flowers. Botanically, a lemon is a large berry. It resembles the gooseberry and the tomato in structure. The juice is used in cooling drinks and for flavoring. Oil of lemon, or lemon extract, is pressed from the rind. It is used for flavoring and as the basis of perfumes. As compared with a lemon, the citron has a thicker, more tender skin and less juice. The lime grows on a smaller tree, and is smaller than a lemon. Its sourness is tempered by a dash of bitterness. The lemon is more acid than the orange. A good lemon is about one-fourth rind, one-fourth pulp, and one-fourth juice. From two to four per cent of the whole is sugar; from six to nine per cent is citric acid. In Sicily the lemon crop is gathered by hand with ladder and basket. The pickers, boys, women, and men, earn from eight to forty cents a day. The harvest costs about seven cents a thousand. See Orange Lemon
Lemon MARK, an English humorist
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
MARK, an English humorist; born in London, England, Nov. 30, 1809. About 1825 he wrote a farce, the first of a long series of melodramas, operettas, etc. He produced, moreover, several novels (the best, perhaps, "Falkner Lyle," 1866), children's stories, and essays, and appeared as a lecturer and public reader. In 1841 he helped to establish "Punch," of which for the first two years he was joint-editor with Henry Mayhew, and thereafter sole editor till his death, in Crawley, Sussex, May 23, 1870.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
Collier's called the prevention and cure of scurvy the lemon's "most valuable" property without being able to say why; the active agent, vitamin C, was isolated and identified as ascorbic acid only in the late 1920s and early 1930s, work for which Albert Szent-Györgyi won a Nobel Prize in 1937. The botany has been rewritten too: the tree Collier's calls Citrus Limonum is now Citrus limon, and DNA studies have shown the lemon to be a hybrid of the citron and the sour orange rather than a species in its own right. Aiton's 1910 confidence in Sicily and Italy has not held — synthetic-scale citric acid, made by mould fermentation from the 1920s, destroyed the Italian citrate monopoly, and today India, Mexico, China and Argentina lead world lemon and lime production, with California still the main US source and Florida's lemon groves, already frost-hit in 1894-95, never recovered as a major industry. The entry on Mark Lemon, editor of Punch until his death in 1870, needs no correction at all.
Written for this edition, 2026.