Clifton College Scientific Society. 67 



ing the berries, it is rarely allowed to grow higher than from ten 

 to twelve feet. Its stem is about four inches thick, and has a 

 whitish and somewhat rough bark. The leaves are about six 

 inches long, by two and a-half wide, and are of an oblong and 

 somewhat oval shape, dark green above, but lighter coloured 

 underneath, and they terminate in a long narrow point. They 

 are arranged almost opposite one another on the branches, and 

 rather close together. 



The flowers, produced in clusters at the base of the leaves, are 

 of a white colour and very fragrant. They last, however, only for 

 a short time. The corolla is cut into five divisions, bearing the 

 stamens fixed round the top of the tube and protruded beyond it. 

 To flowers succeed little red fleshy berries, very much like cherries, 

 which are, according to some, good to eat. Within them are the 

 coffee seeds, covered with a thin parchment-like skin. As the 

 berries grow ripe they get darker in colour, and finally, instead of 

 the fleshy berry there is left a dark brownish-red pod. The seeds 

 are convex on the outside but flat on the inside, which is marked 

 by a longitudinal furrow. 



The early history of cofiee is rather obscure, but it is pretty 

 well agreed that the natives of Abyssinia first made use of it, and 

 that it was drunk in Persia as early as the year 875. From 

 Abyssinia the Arabs took it to Arabia, where in a short time it 

 superseded the native beverage made from the leaves of the Kat 

 (Catha edulis). This happened early in the fifteenth century, 

 when a learned Scheick, named Djemal-eddin-Ebn-Abou-Alfagger, 

 on his return from Abyssinia, brought some bags of coffee to 

 Aden. The new importation met with violent opposition from 

 the priests, who said that it was one of the intoxicating drinks 

 forbidden in the Koran, and therefore forbade its use ; but on 

 some learned ithysicians declaring that it was harmless, the prohi- 

 bition was removed. 



The plant was at first chiefly cultivated in Yemen (or Arabia 

 Felix, as that district was then called), and for nearly two cen- 

 turies Arabia supplied all the coffee used. Near the end of the 

 seventeenth century the Dutch took several plants to Java. From 

 thence they sent one to the Botanical Garden at Amsterdam, and 

 it is said that all the coffee plants in the western world have 

 sprung from this self-same individual. Coff'ee seeds were first 

 introduced into Europe about the middle of the sixteenth century, 

 at Constantinople, but the first coffee-house in London was not 

 established till 1652, by a Greek named Pasqua. Twenty 

 years afterwards (1072) a similar establishment was opened at 

 Marseilles. Early in the eighteenth century the growth of coffee 

 was introduced into the West Indies. 



