As Stenhouse had formerly indicated, no principle has been discovered to which the purgative properties can be attributed, unless it be a green oleo-resin turned red by nitric acid, obtained from the fruit by apery.
"The Medicinal Plants of the Philippines"
T. H. Pardo de Tavera
Hence the comic matter chosen in the first instance is a ridiculous imitation or apery of this constant striving after logical precision, and subtle opposition of thoughts, together with a making the most of every conception or image, by expressing it under the least expected property belonging to it, and this, again, rendered specially absurd by being applied to the most current subjects and occurrences.
"Literary Remains, Vol. 2"
Coleridge