33 



use it ; it prevents the wear and tear of the body. Now 

 there is nothing in chicory which can do that. Chemically 

 there is no difference between beetroot chicory and what is 

 called real chicory; microscopically you can discover the 

 difference. If genuine coffee is sprinkled upon the surface 

 of a tumbler of water, it remains a considerable time float- 

 ing, and when it sinks it only slightly colours the water; 

 chicory, on the other hand, sinks quickly, and colours the 

 water very deeply. Ground coffee is enveloped in an oily 

 substance, which prevents the water absorbing ; chicory has 

 no such protection, and sinks immediately. 



Mr. Phillips, the chemist to the Inland Board of Eevenue, 

 states that the average per-centage of chicory to coffee, 

 when sold mixed, was found to range from 20J to 16f per 

 cent. 



At a recent meeting of the British Association of Science, 

 Mr. Horsley called attention to the use of bi-chromate of 

 potash, in analysing adulterated samples of coffee. With 

 diluted solutions of pure coffee, this salt produces an intense 

 deep porter-brown coloration, whilst upon decoctions of 

 chicory no effect is produced. He advised the following pro- 

 cedure : Take equal parts of chicory and coffee, and decocfc 

 them in different quantities of water. Filter, bottle, and 

 label the liquids. Take a teaspoonful of the chicory, and 

 dilute till it is of a brown sherry colour ; boil it in a porcelain 

 dish, with a fragment of crystallised bi-chrome. The colour 

 will be scarcely deepened. If a similarly diluted solution 

 of coffee is thus treated, a deep-brown tinge is obtained. 

 By operating with mixed liquids a scale of colours may be 

 obtained indicating the properties of the two substances. If 

 a few grains of the sulphate of copper be added, both decoc- 

 tions yield a precipitate; that from chicory being a clay 

 yellow, and that from coffee a sepia brown. Mixed decoc- 

 tions yield intermediate tints. 



