88 ANALYSIS AND ADULTERATIONS OF COFFEE. 



stance. Under the microscope, the presence of chiccory may be 

 readily detected by the size, form, and ready separation of the 

 cells of the cellular tissue, and by the presence and abundance 

 of the pitted tissue or dotted ducts, and vascular tissue or 

 spiral vessels. Roasted corn, and other amylaceous substances, 

 may also be detected in the same way, by the peculiar size and 

 character of their starch-grains." 



Chiccory is a wild endive, which is now extensively cultivated 

 in Germany, France, Belgium, and some parts of England and 

 the United States. Even chiccory itself is sometimes adultera- 

 ted ; as we learn from Johnston, who says : " The coffee-dealer 

 adulterates his coffee with chiccory, to increase his profits ; the 

 chiccory-maker adulterates his chiccory with Venetian red, to 

 please the eye of the coffee-dealer ; and, lastly, the Venetian, 

 red manufacturer grinds up his color with brick-dust, that by 

 his greater cheapness, and the variety of shades he offers, he 

 may secure the patronage of the trade in chiccory ! " After 

 this little expose -, who will not be disposed to prize a gua- 

 ranteed cup of pure coffee ? Pure coffee, indeed, is a rarity. 

 The so-called " Coffee extract " is almost universally found 

 to be nothing but caramel burnt sugar mixed with chiccory 

 and a little Rio coffee : and this fabrication is the coffee one 

 meets with usually on board steamboats or at railroad stations. 

 The Germans use acorns ground up for coffee, and do not 

 object to the drink. The roasted seeds of the water-iris are 

 said to approach very closely in flavor to coffee itself. Sub- 

 stances mixed with coffee, or substitutes for the berry 

 altogether, have been tried with various degrees of success. 

 Roasted acorns, when ground, have been made to pass for it. 

 The infusion of the lupin does duty for it among the peasantry 

 of Flanders ; also that of roasted rye, one of the nearest 

 counterfeits of coffee ; in the United States another adultera- 

 tion is dandelion, which possesses also a soporific nature. 



