COFFEE. 117 



agents than in men thus subjected to intense cold and extra- 

 ordinary hardships. 



A study of the composition of coffee shows a considerable 

 proportion of what must be considered as alimentary matter. 

 The following is the result of the latest analyses by Payen : 



Composition of Coffee. 



Cellulose 34- 



"Water (hygroscopic) 12' 



Fatty substances 10 to 13- 



Glucose, dextrine, indeterminate vegetable acid 15-500 



Legumine, caseine, etc 10' 



Ghlorolignate of potash and caffeine 3'5 to 5' 



Nitrogenized organism 3' 



Free caffeine 0*800 



Concrete, insoluble essential oil O'OOl 



Aromatic essence, of agreeable odor, soluble in water 0'002 



Mineral substances : potash, magnesia, lime, phosphoric, silicic, and sul- 

 phuric acid and chlorine 6'697 



100-000 



The above is the composition of raw coffee, but the 

 berry is never used in that form, being always subjected to 

 torrification before an infusion is made. The roasting should 

 be conducted slowly and gently until the grains assume a 

 chestnut-brown color. During this process the grains are 

 considerably swollen, but they lose from sixteen to seventeen 

 per cent, in weight. A peculiar aromatic principle is also 

 developed. If the torrification be pushed too far, much 

 of the agreeable flavor is lost, and an acrid empyreumatic 

 principle is produced. An infusion of fifteen hundred grains 

 of roasted and ground coffee in about a quart of boiling wa- 

 ter, the infusion made by simple percolation, contains about 

 three hundred grains of the soluble principles. According 

 to Payen, this contains about one hundred and forty grains 

 of nitrogenized matters, and one hundred and fifty-three 

 grains of fatty, saccharine, and saline substances. There is 

 every reason to suppose that these principles are assimilated ; 



1 Op. dt., p. 414. 



