Onion
2 of the 7 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Onion. Both are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
An Encyclopaedia of Occultism (1920)
The Onion was regarded as a symbol of the universe among the ancient Egyptians, and many curious beliefs were associated with it. It was believed by them that it attracted and absorbed infectious matters, and was usually hung up in rooms to prevent. maladies. This belief in the absorptive virtue of the onion is prevalent even at the present day. "When a youth," says Napier, " I remember the following story being told, and implicitly believed by all. There was once a certain king or nobleman who was in want of a physician, and two celebrated doctors applied. As both could not obtain the situation, they agreed among Ooscopy themselves that the one was to try to poison the other, and he who succeeded in overcoming the poison would thus be left free to fill the situation. They drew lots as to who should first take the poison. The first dose given was a stewed toad, but the party who took it immediately applied a poultice of peeled onions over his stomach, and thus abstracted all the poison of the toad. Two days after, the other doctor was given the onions to eat. He ate them, and died. It was generally believed that the poultice of peeled onions laid on the stomach, or underneath the armpits, would cure anyone who had taken poison." Onomancy, it has been properly said, more correctly signifies divination by a donkey, than by a name; and the latter science ought to be termed Onomamancy, or Onomatomancy. The notion that an analogy existed between men's names and their fortunes is supposed to have originated with the Pythagoreans; it furnished some reveries to Plato, and has been the source of much small wit in Ausonius, which it may amuse the classical scholar to collate from his epigrams. Two leading rules in the science of Onomancy were first, that an even number of vowels in a man's name signifies something amiss in his left side; an uneven number a similar affection on the right; so that, between the two, perfect sanity was little to be expected. Secondly, of two competitors, that one would prove successful the numeral letters in whose name when summed up exceeded the amount of those in the name of his rival; and this was one of the reasons which enabled Achilles to triumph over Hector. The Gothic King, Theodotus, is said, on the authority of Cælius Rhodiginus to have practised a peculiar species of Onomancy on the recommendation of a Jew. The diviner advised the prince, when on the eve of a war with Rome , to shut up thirty hogs in three different styes, having previously given some of them Roman and others Gothic names. On an appointed day, when the styes were opened, all the Romans were found alive, but with half their bristles fallen off-all the Goths, on the other hand, were dead; and from this prognostic the onomantist foreboded that the Gothic army would be utterly destroyed by the Romans, who, at the same time, would lose half their own force.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
un'yun, a bulbous plant of the lily family. It is thought that all varieties of onions under cultivation belong to the same species, and are due to differences in climate, soil, and management. The onion originated, it is thought, in Persia. It has been cultivated from antiquity in India and Egypt. It is one of our homeliest garden vegetables. Onions are propagated in three ways-by seeds, by sets, and by top onions. Seeds are obtained in the usual way during the second season. Sets are merely small onions obtained by sowing seed so thickly that the onions of the first season are exceedingly small, but start more quickly and grow faster a second season than plants from seed direct. Top onions are bulblets produced in place of flowers on the stalks of some varieties. Onions from seed are considered milder and more desirable for table use. The usual classification of onions is into onions that produce seed and onions that produce bulblets, or into seed onions and top onions. Over 4,000,000 bushels are produced yearly in the United States . New York is the banner onion-producing state, leading in ordinary years with over two million bushels. Ohio is next. The Pacific States, Iowa, and Illinois are beginning to engage in onion raising. Bermuda onions reach the market early. They are considered the finest onions grown. The region about Loredo and Brownsville, Texas, has sprung into prominence in the production of this variety. The yield of the principal onion-raising states for 1909 was: Acres Bushels Massachusetts. . . . . 1,450 580,000 Connecticut. . . . . 300 45,000 New York. . . . . 3,850 1,155,000 Ohio. . . . . 3,700 1,184,000 Illinois. . . . . 900 135,000 Indiana. . . . . 2,000 550,000 Michigan. . . . . 750 169,000 Wisconsin. . . . . 600 105,000 Texas. . . . . 2,500 800,000 The legal weight of a bushel of onions varies from state to state. In Ohio, the seller gives forty-eight pounds for a bushel. In Indiana, an adjacent state, the legal weight is fifty-six pounds. See Vegetables ; Leek ; Garlic ; Lily