880 COFFEE 



Gadida family; especially from the torsk, Brosimus brosme. It is administered 

 medicinally : it acte mainly as a nutritive body, and the old idea that its medicinal 1 

 value depended on the iodine it contained is now proved to be false, since it holds no 

 iodine in composition. Since the demand for cod-liver oil has been large, it has been 

 extensively adulterated with other fish-oils. 



CODEINE. C M H 21 N0 8 + 2HO (C 18 H 2l ro s + HO 2 ). An alkaloid obtained from 

 opium, where it occurs associated with morphine and several other bases. Codeine 

 was discovered by Robiquet, and has been studied by Dr. Anderson and other chemiste. 

 The substitution-compounds formed from codeine by the action of hydrochloric acid 

 were investigated by Drs. Matthiessen and Wright, and those produced by the action 

 of hydrobromic acid have recently been studied by Dr. Wright alone. 



CODZXiXiA OF FXiAX. The coarsest parts of the fibre sorted out by itself. Soa 

 FLAX. 



CffilESTXKT. Native sulphate of strontia. See CELESTINB. 



COFFEE. (Cafi, Fr. ; Kaffee, Ger.) The coffee is the seed of the Coffea Arabica, 

 a tree of the order Rubiacece, and belongs to the Pentandria monogynia of Linnaeus. 

 There are several species of the genus, but the only one cultivated is the Coffea 

 Arabica, a native of Upper Ethiopia and Arabia Felix. It rises to the height of 15 or 

 20 feet ; its trunk sends forth opposite branches in pairs above and at right angles to 

 each other ; the leaves resemble those of the common laurel, although not so dry and 

 thick. From the angle of the leaf-stalks small groups of white flowers issue, which 

 are like those of the Spanish jasmine. These flowers fade very soon, and are replaced 

 by a kind of fruit not unlike a cherry, which contains a yellow glairy fluid, envelo- 

 ping two small seeds or berries convex upon one side, flat and furrowed upon the other 

 in the direction of the long axis. These seeds are of a horny or cartilaginous nature; 

 they are glued together, each being surrounded with a peculiar coriaceous membrane. 

 They constitute the coffee of commerce. 



It was not till towards the end of the 16th century that the coffee-tree began to be 

 cultivated in Arabia. Historians usually ascribe the discovery of the use of coffee as 

 a beverage to the superior of a monastery there, who, desirous of preventing the 

 monks from sleeping at their nocturnal services, made them drink the infusion of 

 coffee upon the report of shepherds, who pretended that their flocks were more lively 

 after browsing on the fruit of that plant. The use of coffee was soon rapidly spread, 

 but it encountered much opposition on the part of the Turkish government, and be- 

 came the occasion of public assemblies, Under the reign of Amurath III. the mufti 

 procured a law to shut all the coffee-houses, and this act of suppression was renewed 

 under the minority of Mahomet IV. It was not till 1554, under Solyman the Great, 

 that the drinking of coffee was accredited in Constantinople ; and a century elapsed 

 before it was known in London and Paris. Solyman Aga introduced its use into the 

 latter city in 1669, and in 1672 an Armenian established the first cqft at the fair of 

 Saint-Germain. 



When coffee became somewhat of a necessary of life from the influence of habit 

 among the people, all the European Powers who had colonies between the tropics pro- 

 jected to form plantations of coffee-trees in them. The Dutch were the first who 

 transported the coffee plant from Mocha to Batavia, and from Batavia to Amsterdam. 

 In 1714 the magistrates of that city sent a root to Louis XIV., which he caused to be 

 planted in the Jardin du Koi. This became the parent stock of all the French 'coffee 

 plantations in the Martinique. 



The most extensive culture of coffee is still in Arabia Felix, and principally in the 

 kingdom of Yemen, towards the cantons of Aden and Mocha. Although these coun- 

 tries are very hot in the plains, they possess mountains where the air is mild. The 

 coffee is generally grown half-way up on their slopes. When cultivated on the lower 

 ground it is always surrounded by large trees, which shelter it from the torrid sun, 

 and prevent its fruit from withering before their maturity. The harvest is gathered 

 at three periods : the most considerable occurs in May, when the reapers begin by 

 spreading cloths under the trees, then shaking the branches strongly, so as to make 

 the fruit drop, which they collect, and expose upon mats to dry. They then pass 

 over the dried berries a very heavy roller, to break the envelopes, which aro after- 

 wards winnowed away with a fan. The interior bean is again dried before being 

 laid up in store. 



In Demerara, Borbice, and some of our West India islands, where much good 

 coffee is now raised, a different mode of treating the pulpy fruit and curing the beans 

 is adopted. When the cherry-looking berry has assumed a deep-red colour, it is 

 gathered, and immediately subjected to the operations of a mill composed of two 

 wooden rollers, furnished with iron plates, which revolve near a third fixed roller 

 called the chops. The berries are fed into a hopper above the rollers, and falling 

 down between them and the chops, they are stripped of their outer skins and pulp, 



