APPLES OF SODOM (ap'plz ov sod'om), is a phrase associated with the Dead Sea, as the name of a fruit said to have all the appearance of the most inviting apple while it was filled with nause ous and bitter dust only.
It has furnished many moralists with allusions, and also our poet Milton, in whose infernal re gions— A grove sprung up—laden with fair greedily they plucked The fruitage, fair to sight, like that which grew Near that bituminous lake, where Sodom flamed. This, more delusive, not the touch, but taste Deceived. They, fondly thinking to allay Their appetite with gust, instead of fruit Chewed bitter ashes, which the offended taste With spattering noise rejected :— Tacitus and Josephus both refer to it. M. Seetzen, a renowned traveler of the last century, writes as follows regarding the subject : The information which I have been able to collect on the apples of Sodom (Solarium Sod omeum) is very contradictory and insufficient ; I believe, however, that I can give a very natural explanation of the phenomenon, and that the fol lowing remark will lead to it. While I was at Karrak, at the house of a Greek curate of the town, I saw a sort of cotton, resembling silk, which he used as a tinder for his match-lock, as it could not be employed in making cloth. He told me that it grew in the plains of el-G6r, to the east of the Dead Sea, on a tree like a fig tree, called Aoeschaer. The cotton is contained in a fruit resembling the pomegranate; and by making incisions at the root of the tree, a sort of milk is procured, which is recommended to bar ren women, and is called Lebbin Aoeschaer. It has struck me that these fruits, being, as they are without pulp, and which are unknown throughout the rest of Palestine, might be the famous apples of Sodom. I suppose, likewise, that the tree which produces it, is a sort of fromager (Bombyx, Linn.), which can only flourish under the ex cessive heat of the Dead Sea, and in no other district of Palestine." This curious subject is further explained, in a note added by M. Seetzen's editor, who considers the tree to be a species of Aselepias, probably the Asclepias Gigantea. The remark of M. Seetzen is corroborated by a traveler, who passed a long time in situations where this plant is very abun dant. The same idea occurred to him when he first saw it in 1792, though he did not then know that it existed near the lake Asphaltites. The umbella, somewhat like a bladder, containing from half a pint to a pint, is of the same color with the leaves, a bright green, and may be mistaken for an inviting fruit, without much stretch of im agination. That, as well as the other parts, when
green, being cut or pressed, yields a milky juice, of a very acrid taste ; but in winter, when dry, it contains a yellowish dust, in appearance re sembling certain fungi common in South Britain. but of pungent quality, and said to be particularly injurious to the eyes. The whole so nearly cor responds with the description given by Solinus (Polyhistor), Josephus, and others, of the Poma Sodomte, allowance being made for their extrava gant exaggerations, as to leave little doubt on the subject.
Seetzen's account is partly confirmed by the la mented Burckhardt. He says: "The tree Asheyr is very common in the It bears a fruit of a reddish yellow color, about three inches in diam eter, which contains a white substance, resembling the finest silk. The Arabs collect the silk, and twist it into matches for their fire-locks, prefer ring it to the common match because it ignites more readily. More than twenty camel loads might be produced annually." p. 392.
Chateaubriand describes it as thorny, with small taper leaves, and its fruit is exactly like the small Egyptian lemon in size and color Before the fruit is ripe it is filled with a corrosive and saline juice; when dried, it yields a blackish seed, which may be compared to ashes, and which in taste resembles bitter pepper. Mr. King found the same shrub and fruit near Jericho, and seems also inclined to regard it as the apple of Sodom. (Miss. Herald for 1824, p. 99; Mod. Traveler, i. p. 2o6.) Most probably, however, the whole story in Tacitus and Josephiis is a fable, which sprung up in connection with the singular and marvelous character of this region and its history. The whole account of the Dead Sea in Tacitus is of a similar kind. Even to the present day a like fable is current among the Arabs who dwell in the vicinity. Burckhardt says: "They speak of the spurious pomegranate tree, producing a fruit pre cisely like that of the pomegranate, but which, on being opened, is found to contain nothing but a dusty powder. This, they pretend, is the Sodom apple tree; other persons, however, deny its ex istence," p. 392.
Robinson refers to the Osher as being in ac cord in its appearance with the ancient story (Bib. Researches ii :236, sq.; Comp. Wilson, Bible Lands i:8, sq.; Kitto, Phys. His. of Palestine, p. ccxc, sq.).