108 NUTRITIVE PLANTS. 



or less wholesome effect greatly depends on the climate, as well as 

 the age, constitution, and other peculiarities, of the individual. 

 Hence it cannot be recommended to children, or persons of a hot, 

 choleric, nervous, or phthisical habit ; nor will it be so safe and use- 

 ful in warm as in cold and temperate climates ; but to the phleg- 

 matic and sedentary, a cup of coffee, one or two hours after a meal, 

 or, which is still better, one hour before it, may be of service to 

 promote digestion, and prevent or remove a propensity to sleep. 

 In cases of spasmodic asthma, hypochondriasis, scrofula, diarrhoea, 

 agues, and particularly against narcotic poisons, such as opium, 

 hemlock, &c. coffee often produces the best effects: nor is there a 

 domestic remedy better adapted to relieve periodical headachs 

 which proceed from want of tone, or from debility of the stomach. 

 Count Rumford in the eighteenth of his Essays has entered into 

 a minute, elaborate, and useful analysis of the powers of this valua- 

 ble berry, and the best means of infusing it for dietetic purposes. 

 He remarks that " among the numerous luxuries of the table, un- 

 known to our forefathers, coffee may be considered as one of the 

 most valuable. Its taste is very agreeable, and its flavour uncom- 

 monly so ; but its principal excellence depends on its salubrity, and 

 on its exhilirating quality. It excites cheerfulness, without intoxi- 

 cation ; and the pleasing flow of spirits which it occasions, lasts 

 many hours, and is never followed by sadness, languor, or debility. 

 It diffuses over the whole frame a -glow of health, and a sense of 

 ease and well-being which is extremely delightful : existence is felt 

 to be a positive enjoyment, and the mental powers are awakened, 

 and rendered uncommonly active.'* After some other judicious 

 observations on the valuable properties of coffee, and the uncertainty 

 of the result in the common methods of preparing it, the Count 

 proceeds with his subject. 



" Different methods have been employed in making coffee ; but 

 the preparation of the grain is nearly the same in all of them. It 

 is first roasted in an iron pan, or in a hollow cylinder made of 

 sheet-iron, over a brisk fire ; and when, from the colour of the 

 grain, and the peculiar fragrance which it acquires in this process, 

 it is judged to be sufficiently roasted, it is taken from the fire, and 

 suffered to cool. When cold it is pounded in a mortar ; or ground 

 in a hand-mill to a coarse powder, and preserved for use. 



' { Great care must be taken in roasting coffee, not to roast it too 



