COFFEE. COFFEA. 



In Botany of the Class Pentandria Monogynia; 

 Natural Order, Stellate. It is named 

 after Caffa, in Africa, where it grows abun- 

 dantly. 



THIS berry, which affords such a wholesome 

 and agreeable beverage, is said to have been 

 drunk from time immemorial in Ethiopia, 

 but of this we have no authority ; and as the 

 use of most plants has been accidentally 

 discovered, it is probable that the properties 

 of coffee might have been first perceived by 

 a goatherd (as related by Chambers), who 

 observed that his cattle, after browsing on 

 this tree, would wake and caper all night, 

 and that a prior of a monastery, being in- 

 formed of it, first tried it on his monks, 

 to prevent their sleeping at matins. 



About the fifteenth century the use of 

 coffee appears to have been introduced from 

 Persia by Gemaleddin, Mufti of Aden, a 



