CINCHONACE^E. 



hi the coffee plantations the trees are raised from 

 coeds, and are afterwards transplanted into nursery 

 lines. The plantations are situated on the sides of 

 hills or mountains, and the trees are generally ten 

 feet apart. The produce of a good tree is said to be 

 one or two pounds of berries. These berries when 

 fully ripe are gathered and put into a particular kind 

 of mill, in order to be deprived of their outer pulp. 

 The seeds are then soaked in water, and are subse- 

 quently well dried before being deprived of their 

 parchment or membranous covering by means of a 

 machine called the peeling-mill. They are afterwards 

 subjected to the action of a winnowing-mill, which 

 removes any loose pellicles -which may be mixed with 

 them. In this state they constitute the raw coffee 

 beans of commerce, which require to be roasted and 

 ground to powder before being fit for use. In this 

 country the roasting is performed in cylinders, which 

 are made to revolve over a charcoal fire, while in 

 France this operation is performed generally in open 

 pans. In Turkey a sort of coffee, called Sultan's 

 coffee, is prepared from the fleshy mass which covers 

 the seeds. It is said to be less heating than common 

 coffee, and to possess gently laxative properties. The 

 Arabs and Turks use great quantities of coffee. 

 They prepare it very hot, and drink it without sugar 

 at all periods of the day. The Mohammedans in 

 India are also great coffee drinkers. They think 

 that it allays nervous irritability, and prescribe it in 

 cholera. The French use more coffee than the 

 British ; their coffee too is stronger, and is sometimes 

 mixed with a large proportion of warm milk. Coffee 

 has been a favourite beverage of many great men, 

 Napoleon, Frederick the Great, Voltaire, and Leib- 

 nitz, were particularly fond of it. The quality of 

 coffee is greatly dependent on the roasting ; if too 

 little done, it is heavy and has scarcely any flavour ; 

 if too much, it has a disagreeable burnt taste ; whereas 

 when the heat is properly regulated, it acquires a fine 

 aroma, and becomes a most agreeable article of food. 

 Coffee is frequently spoiled by being long boiled, in 

 which case it is deprived of its fine flavour and 

 strength, in consequence of the aromatic oil which it 

 contains being dispelled. It is best prepared by 

 pouring boiling water through the powdered coffee 

 on a strainer, and various ingenious machines have 

 been contrived for the purpose ; one of the most 

 curious of which operates on the principle of a 

 vacuum, formed beneath the coffee to ensure the 

 rapid passage of the boiling water through the stratum 

 of the ground berry. By this process coffee is per- 

 fectly made, and the aroma extracted in a few 

 seconds. Coffee ought to be used immediately after 

 it has been roasted and ground. 



The coffee trade has increased much of late, and a 

 large amount of capital is employed in its production 

 and transport. The consumption of coffee in Britain 

 has increased greatly, more especially since the reduc- 

 tion of the duty in 1825. At present the duty charged 

 is sixpence per pound on British Plantation, nine-pence 

 on East India, and one shilling and three-pence on fo- 

 reign coffee. In the year ending January 1831, the 

 quantity imported into this country was 40,952, 1 63 Ibs., 

 and the quantity exported, 28,087,994 Ibs. The chief 

 countries from which coffee is imported are, Arabia, 

 Java, Sumatra, Brazil, and the West India islands. 

 The quantity annually supplied by Arabia is said to 

 be 14,000,000 pounds. The consumption of coffee 

 over the world is thus stated : 



T\ ** 



Great Britain ...... 10,000 



Holland and Netherlands .... 40,200 



Germany and the countries round the Baltic 32,000 

 France, Spain, Italy, Turkey in Europe, and 



the Levant '28,500 



America 18,500 



Total . 129,200 



Coffee is recommended medicinally as a stimulant, 

 astringent, and antiseptic. When taken internally it 

 diffuses a grateful warmth through the frame, soothes 

 the system, and at the same time revives and sharpens 

 the intellectual powers. From its property of pre- 

 venting sleep, it is particularly useful to those who 

 trim the midnight lamp. It produces all the effects 

 of stimulating liquors, without confusing the ideas or 

 inducing intoxication. In some peculiar constitutions 

 it causes such a degree of irritation, accompanied 

 with tremors and other disagreeable symptoms, that 

 its use cannot be persevered in. When taken imme- 

 diately after dinner, coffee seems to promote digestion, 

 and it is one of the best substances for removing the 

 disagreeable effects of opium or morphia, as well as 

 for dissipating sick headachs arising from the previous 

 use of stimulating liquors. In spasmodic asthma, Sir 

 John Pringle recommended coffee without milk or 

 sugar. Raw coffee has been used as a tonic in inter- 

 mittent fevers. A decoction of it has been prescribed 

 at Naples in chronic inflammation of the eyes, and 

 the vapour produced during the process of roasting 

 has also been useful iu the same disease. 



Coffee may be imitated by roasting rye with a few 

 almonds. Roasted wheat and rye were lately much 

 used by the poorer classes in Britain. In India, 

 roasted rice has been used as a substitute for coffee ; 

 and in Europe, the roasted seeds of the common 

 yellow water-flag have also been employed for a 

 similar purpose. 



According to MM. Robiquet and Pellctier, coffee 

 contains a peculiar principle called caffein, a volatile 

 concrete oil, gum, albumen, a white sweet oil, a 

 bitter principle, and an acrid resinous matter. During 

 the process of roasting, tannin and a peculiar acid 

 are developed. 



Coffea Mauntlana is another species of this genus, 

 which is found in the woods of the Isle of Bourbon. 

 It furnishes also a kind of coffee. 



Coffea Bengalcns'is is an erect shrub, found in 

 Bengal, which flowers in the hot season, and yields 

 fruit in the cold. It bears white flowers, which are 

 succeeded by a small black berry. Its seeds are 

 inferior in quality to those of the Coffea Arabica. 

 Several other species, such as Coffea raccmosa and 

 ZanguebarifE, produce seeds which may be used as 

 coffee. 



The next genus deserving notice is Cephaelii, 

 containing upwards of thirty species, the most im- 

 portant of which is Ccphaclis ipecacuanha. This is a 

 perennial plant, found in the humid shady woods of 

 Brazil, and other parts of South America, and is of 

 great importance as furnishing a valuable article of 

 materia medica known by the name of Ipecacuan. 

 This medicine is procured from the root, which was 

 first introduced into Europe as an emetic, towards 

 the middle of the seventeenth century, by a physician 

 named Legras. The plant, however, which yielded 

 the root, was not known until Brotero, Professor of 

 Botany in the University of Coimbra, in Portugal, 

 D2 



