PROPERTIES AND EXPORTS OF COFFEE. 75 



weak and insipid. Boiling water should be poured through the coffee 

 in a strainer, or poured upon it and left to stand on the fire not over 

 ten minutes. The best coffee is made in France and Turkey, and the 

 poorest in England and the United States. Ground coffee, as commonly 

 sold in shops in our large cities, is much adulterated and has few of the 

 properties of the best article. 



It is adulterated, especially in England, with chicory. This is de- 

 tected by shaking the coffee in a glass, when the pure coffee swims 

 without coloring the water, while the chicory sinks and colors the wa- 

 ter red. Roasted grains of any kind are detected by the blue color 

 produced on the addition of a solution of iodine to the coffee in cold 

 water. The aroma of coffee is said to be caused by the decomposition, 

 of an acid (caffdc acid.) A volatile neutral, called caffein, exists in 

 coffee. The other constituents are gum, resin, fixed oil., albumen, ex- 

 tractive and lignin. The principle peculiar to coffee forms 17.59 per 

 cent, of raw and 12.50 of roasted coffee. Raw coffee has been used 

 medicinally like Peruvian bark ; it is slightly nutritive, but when 

 ground this property is destroyed and an impyreumatic matter is given 

 out which is stimulating to the nerves. 



The properties of coffee are known to be a powerful stimulant and 

 cordial. Coffee is used as an antidote to the effects of narcotics and 

 to relieve those of intoxicating drinks. It is good when strong for 

 asthma, for exhaustion from fatigue, for sickness at the stomach, head- 

 ache, &c. It has been used as a febrifuge in intermittent^, as a stom- 

 achic in dispepsia, and an astringent in diarrhoea ; but some of these 

 virtues are disputed. Its use is to be avoided by those having affec- 

 tions of the heart. It is said to be an enemy to the skin, depriving it 

 of freshness, softness, &c. Those nursing should use it sparingly. 



Many sermons were preached against coffee when it was introduc- 

 ed into Europe, one of which has the following : " They cannot wait 

 until the smoke of the infernal regions surround them, but encompass 

 themselves with smoke of their own accord, and drink a poison wnich 

 God made black that it might bear the devil's color." 



The amount of exports in 1831 from the different places where it 

 is crown was 123,500 tons, or 251.000,000 Ibs., nearly a fourth part of 

 which was consumed in Great Britain and America. Of the 147,000 

 tons estimated by McCulloch as produced, 42,000 tons were from Spa- 

 nish Main, 25,000 from Cuba and Porto Rico, and 20,000 from Hayti. 

 The consumption estimated by him was, G. Britain 10,000 tons, Neth- 

 erlands and Holland 40,500, Germany and around the Baltic 32,000, 

 France, Spain, Italy, Turkey, &c., 35,000, and America 20,500 total, 

 138,500 tons. The average annual importation into France from 1830 

 to 1832 was 1 1,476 tons, or not three-fourths of a pound for each of 

 her population. In Great Britain, at 22,000,000 for 1830, it was also 

 less than a pound each. But in 1840 she imported 39,932,279 pounds. 



