It was through the falling of an apple in the garden of Mrs.
Conduitt at Woolthorpe, near Grantham, Sir Isaac Newton was led
to discover the great law of gravitation which regulates the whole
universe. Again, it was an apple the patriot William Tell shot from
the head of his own bright boy with one arrow, whilst reserving a
second for the heart of a tyrant. Dr. Prior says the word Apple took
its origin from the Sanskrit, _Ap_,--"water," and _Phal_,--"fruit,"
meaning "water fruit," or "juice fruit"; and with this the Latin
name _Pomum_--from _Poto_, "to drink"--precisely agrees; if
which be so, our apple must have come originally from the East
long ages back.

[33] The term "Apple-pie order" is derived from the French
phrase, _a plis_, "in plaits," folded in regular plaits; or, perhaps,
from _cap a pied_, "armed from head to foot," in perfect order.
Likewise the "Apple-pie bed" is so called from the French _a
plis_, or it may be from the Apple turnover of Devon and
Cornwall, as made with the paste turned over on itself.

The botanical name of an apple tree is Pyrus Malus, of which
schoolboys are wont to make ingenious uses by playing on the
latter word. Malo, I had rather be; Malo, in an Apple tree; Malo,
than a wicked man; Malo, in adversity. Or, again, _Mea mater
mala est sus_, which bears the easy translation, "My mother is a
wicked old sow"; but the intentional reading of which signifies
"Run, mother! the sow is eating the apples." The term "Adam's
Apple," which is applied to the most prominent part of a person's
throat in front is based on the superstition that a piece of the
forbidden fruit stuck in Adam's throat, and caused this lump to
remain.

ARUM--THE COMMON.

The "lords and ladies" (_arum maculatum_) so well known to
every rustic as common throughout Spring in almost every hedge
row, has acquired its name from the colour of its erect pointed
spike enclosed within the curled hood of an upright arrow-shaped
leaf. This is purple or cream hued, according to the accredited sex
of the plant. It bears further the titles of Cuckoo Pint, Wake Robin,
Parson in the Pulpit, Rampe, Starchwort, Arrowroot, Gethsemane,
Bloody Fingers, Snake's Meat, Adam and Eve, Calfsfoot, Aaron,
and Priest's Pintle. The red spots on its glossy emerald arrow-head
leaves, are attributed to the dropping of our Saviour's blood on
[34] the plant whilst growing at the foot of the cross. Several of
the above appellations bear refere