202 Scientiftc Intelligence — Botany. 



composition, on which their value depends. — Proceedings of the 

 Boston Society of Natural History. 



23. Coffee. — The principal kinds of coffee are the Mocha, or 

 Turkey coffee, Jamaica, St Domingo, Cuha, Porto Rico, Demerara, 

 Bourbon, Martinico, and Hayti. All species of coffee improve by 

 keeping ; it is in the best condition when two or three years old. 

 Good coffee should not have the slightest odour of mouldiness, or any 

 other odour, for the berries of coffee absorb most readily the effluvia 

 from other bodies, and thus acquire an unpleasant flavour. Many 

 cargoes have been spoiled from having been shipped with, or even 

 put into, vessels which had previously been frighted with sugar. A 

 few bags of pepper are sufficient to spoil a whole ship load of coffee. 

 Coffee, even that of the very best quality, and in the best condition, 

 may be impaired by improper roasting, which operation is one of some 

 nicety, and seldom well performed. If roasted too little, the aroma 

 will not be fully developed, and the best coffee may then yield a 

 vapid and effete infusion of an unripe flavour ; if roasted too much, 

 the aroma is dissipated, and the infusion will have a bitter flat taste. 

 After having been roasted to the proper degree, it should be emptied 

 whilst hot into wooden boxes, furnished with sound, well fitting covers, 

 and it should be kept there until cold and not cooled in the open 

 air ; if roasted in small quantities, it may be emptied into a sheet of 

 brown paper, and the whole wrapped up in flannel until cold. 

 Roasted coffee should be preserved in well closed and perfectly dry 

 vessels. The berries, when properly roasted, are of a full rich brown 

 colour, bright and oily superficially. No article is probably adul- 

 terated to a greater extent than ground coffee ; and it is always better 

 for the consumer to have his coffee ground at home rather than run 

 the risk of drinking an infusion of chicory, ground beans and peas, 

 ochre, brick-dust, &c. Ground coffee, in addition, even if genuine, 

 soon loses its aroma by keeping. — American Annual of ScientiJiG 

 Discovery for 1851. 



24. Atmospheric Dissemination of Algous Plants.- — The follow- 

 ing observations on tho atmospheric dissemination of Algous plants 

 were made by Dr Burnett at a meeting of the Boston Society of 

 Natural History in July : — •" The occurrence of minute algae and 

 spores in liquids and infusions, under circumstances rendering it 

 impossible that they could have been introduced from without, is a 

 fact constantly falling under the eye of the microscopical observer. 

 These facts, viewed in different relations, have served in some hands 

 as arguments for the doctrine of equivocal generation ; and, in others, 

 as the groundwork for theories as to the true cause of miasmatic 

 diseases. While making some experiments upon diabetic urine (the 

 abundant presence in which the common ferment alga, Torula cere- 

 visia, is well known), I was surprised to find all the common 

 liquids in its neighbourhood pervaded by the name alga, and parti- 

 cularly those exhibiting any tendency to decomposition. This led 



