55^ 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[Feb. I, 1887. 



portance is the potash, which amounts to one-sixth 

 and one-' ightb of the whole ash respectively. 



About fourteen years ago P. Carles wrote a paper 

 DM the •' Complete Analysis of Cinchona Barks," in the 

 Jicpeitoire de I'hari/iacie (new series), vol. i., p. 6U 

 (which appeared iu the Phartii. Journ., March 15, lSi73), 

 anil a complete analysis is given of the ash of 

 Hiiaiiuco, calisaya and succirubra barks from South 

 America. His examinations agree on the whole with 

 the above, but he finds traces of copper and appreciable 

 quantities of manganese present. Although there was 

 i|'airtz present iu most of my samples, weighed as 

 insoluble silica, yet there was no trace of copper; 

 and the absence of more than traces of manganese is 

 iu accordnnce with the nature of the Nilgiri soils. I 

 can confirm Cares in showing what a small quantity 

 of chlorine is present. As to barks rich iu quinine 

 associ tevl with abuudauce of lime salts, I cannot agree 

 that there !s any rt- latioa between the alkaloids aud the 

 niineial elements. The cinchonas of South America 

 wero poorer in quinine then than the India barks are 

 now, ard they yielded about half the amount of ash. 

 On the other hand the Ledger barks, which are richer 

 iu quinine thau succirubras, always contain less ash, 

 aud consequently a less amount of lime. There is not 

 much lime in the Nilgiri soil, yet it seems an essen- 

 tial ingredient in cinchona bark, and is taken up in 

 large quantities whether the cinchona is grown in 

 India or America. However different the soils of 

 these two countries may be, a comparison of the 

 analyses of Mr. Carles and myself will show that 

 cinchona bark appropriated to itself a peculiar arrange- 

 ment of chemical elements. If the arrangement of 

 the inorganic constituents of plants were at all con- 

 stant, it would be a means whereby the chemist could 

 assist the botanist in discriminating betweea differ- 

 ent natural orders, genera, if not species of plants. 

 — Pharmaceutical Journal. 



THE BEVERAGES IN COMMON USE.- 



BY PKOFESSOR DUJARDIN-liEAUMETZ. 



Under the head of aromatic beverages I propose 

 to speak exclusively of such as contain a certain 

 alkaloid, with the formula C^HipN^Oj, which Eunge, 

 in 1820, found in coffee, and to which he gave the 

 name caffeine, which Oudry, in 1827, found in tea, 

 and which he called theine which Martins discovered 

 in the FauUinia sorbilis, and which finally HaecKel 

 and Schlagdeuhauffen have isolated, along with theo- 

 bromine, from kola nuts. 



In order to simplify the exposition into which I 

 am about to enter, I will admit that all these alkaloids 

 are identical, although I know very well that it is 

 by no means demonstrable that isomeric bodies have 

 absolutely the £ame physiological action. I shall not 

 ' tKjuch upon the ditt'erent hypotheses which have been 

 put forth relative to the atomic composition of this 

 body. I have already called attention to this point 

 in » recent study on the derivatives of caffeine.+ I 

 have shown that if, according to Strecker, caffeine 

 is only the methyltheobromine, according to Fischer, 

 on the other hand, caffeine aud theobromine are 

 derivatives of xanthine ; theobromine is the bimethyl- 

 xanthine, while caffeine is the trimethylxanthine. 

 But I cannot now take up your time with these 

 chemical researches. 



All the aromatic beverages containing caffeine (or 

 the isomeric alkaloids above mentioned) for their 

 hases are used in immense quantities all over our 

 globe, and their employmout is much more extensive 

 than that of alcoholic beverages. 



Many opinions have been put forth as to the 



physiological and hygienic action of coffee. These 



may be reduced to three hypotheses. Coffee diminishes 



the excretion of urea and is a waste-restraiuer ; it 



. does not modify the urea excretion, aud is a force- 



* A lecture on Hygienic Therapeutic, delivered in 

 Cociiiu Hospital. From a translatiuu iu the Therapeu- 

 c Gazette. 



t Dujardiu-Beaumetz, " On the Physiological and 

 Therapei-itic Propeitiesof the Derivatives of Caffeine." 

 (Bi'.n. (le Tiler., 1866, t. ex., p. 241). 



producer; or lastly, it acts as a food, supplying ele- 

 ments of nutrition. 



The fir-it view is supported by Schultz, Gasparin, 

 Broker, Lehman, Frolish, Trousseau and Pidoux, Kabu- 

 teau, Mirvaux, otc, who claim tbat coffee diniiuishea 

 the quantity of urea excreted ; that it does not 

 nourish, but that it prevents deiiutrition. This is the 

 waste-restraining- iliment theory. 



But to facts advanceil by these physiologists other 

 facts are oppjsed, aud we see Rous and Giraud in 

 Frame, Biuz iu Germany, Braokenridge in Eagla id, 

 maintain that coffee, as well as caffeine, in no respects 

 luo'lifies the figure of urea. Hence Gubler, basing 

 himself on the researches of these auth jrities, af£rms 

 that coffee has no actioa on nutrition, but that it 

 is a tonic, or, rather, a force pro lucer. 



Lastly, Payen has shown that coft'ee contains nitrogen, 

 and this in quite notable proportion, since in green 

 coffee this essential element exists in the proportion 

 of 4'43 per cent, and in roi.sted coffee in the pro- 

 portion of 1'75 per cent. He shows, moreover, that 

 the admixture of eoff'ee with milk, in ordinary usage 

 iu many parts of the world as a breakfast beverage, 

 is one of the most nutritious of all drink.s, a mixture 

 of 500 grams of infusion of coffee, 500 grams of milk, 

 and 75 grams of of sugar contaiuiug, aocjrdiag to 

 his estimate, 49 grams of nitrogenous substance aud 

 100 grams of hydrocarbon and salts. 



This view has been adopted by I''leury, Bouchardat 

 and Jomaud, and is supported by facts being in, accord- 

 ance with the experience of entire populations (in 

 England, Germany, Switzerland and the United States), 

 who find sustenance in their breakfast dish of coffee. 



Coffee is, then, by virtue of the nitrogen which it 

 contains, a fond, aud you remember that in the 

 primordial alimentary principles I included caffeine 

 among the azotized substances. Moreover, recent 

 experiments of Guiraaraes show positively that aug- 

 mentation of urea follows the administration of coffee.* 



But is coffee anything but an aliment? It possesses 

 special tonic properties on the circulation aud 

 nervous system. All experimenters are agreed in the 

 fact that under the influence of coft'ee the beatings 

 of the heart become more rapid and more euergetic, 

 the circulation more active, and the urine more 

 abumiant. Leblond's study has given us in this regard 

 tracings of high importance. Moreover, whether by 

 the activity which it impresses on the circulation, 

 or by a direct action on the nervous elements, coffee 

 directly affects the brain, aud may be called " a 

 cheering and thought-iuspiring beverage." 



This threefold action, on nutrition, on the circulation, 

 and on the nervous system, makes coffee an admirable 

 tonic, and we are justified in saying that it is largely 

 by reason of the strong coffee, which habitually forms 

 a' part of their diet, that our troops have been enabled 

 in the burning of climate of Algiers to endure 

 the most exhausting campaigns. 



It is also •wing largely to the coft'ee, which is be- 

 coming more aud moro an article of daily consumption 

 among the farmers iu the country, that we see this 

 class of people ablo to endure the great increase of 

 toil to which they are subjeotetl in haying and har- 

 vesting seasons. 



Coft'ee, in order to be fit for nutrition, must first 

 be torrefied. Payen has made a special study on th« 

 modifications which coffee undergoes by roasting, and 

 has shown that during the process there is a breaking 

 up sf the chlorogenate of potassium and caffeine, and 

 a setting free of a part of the caffeine held in 

 combination. 



I cannot here touch upon the different modes of 

 preparing coffee, modes by which the properties of 

 roasted coffee are doubtless more or less modified. 

 "While iu Em-ope it is the infusion which is drunk 

 almost exclusively, the inhabitants of the East prefer 

 the decoction, and, if we may b.4ieve their statement, 

 the decoction, while preserving the tonic and alimentary 

 properties of the coffee, is quite devoid of the ex- 

 citing properties which characterize the infusion. 



* Guimaraes, " On the Physiological and Hygienic Ac- 

 tion of Coffee" (Arch, fia Fhi/s., 1684, t. iv., p. 253). 



