PROCEEDINGS OF THE POLYTECHNIC ASSOCIATION. 445 



by small brass gearing with the cj^linder. The fly-wheel serves the double 

 purpose of regulating the movement and cooling the spring and machinery, 

 Avhicli otherwise would be injured by the heat. The present cost of the 

 smallest size is five dollars. 



Dr. J. B. Kich remarked that the excellence of the coffee made in Turkey, 

 consisted in the fact that everj'' imperfect or over-burnt berry was removed. 

 It is roasted and crushed, and immediately served up. It is crushed 

 between two flat stones, or sometimes with a rude mortar and pestle. He 

 did not remember ever to have had a bad cup of coffee during his stay in 

 that country. , 



Pri»f Fleury said he had j'cceutly learnt the means of preserving the 

 aroma in coffee; it was by adding sugar which absorbed the volatile por- 

 tion which passes off in roasting. His own father had been a large man- 

 ufacturer at Vienna of ground or prepared coffee, made entirely of figs, 

 which were nearly all exported to Turkey. The advantage of this coffee 

 is, that it does not require as much sugar as the real berry. It is, how- 

 ever, far less stimulating than pure coffee. *" 



Dr. Rowell said that the high price of the coffee berry had induced many 

 to use a mixture of different kinds of grain. 



Mr. Ward exhibited a round, small dark bean well adapted as a substi- 

 tute for coffee. It is called the coffee bean. 



The Chairman remarked that nearly all the ground coffee sold iS adulte- 

 rated with chicory, carrots, etc. It is the common practice of farmers and 

 others in the country, to mix burnt grain with the real coffee, or to use it 

 without the addition of any coffee berries. He would discourage the use 

 of rye, but believed that barley, wheat, and especially the bean now 

 exhibited, would make a very agreeable, and certainly a very healthy 

 beverage. 



The peculiar effects of coffee on the nervous system cannot be obtained 

 from any of the substitutes named. Coffee acts very differently on diffe- 

 rent constitutions. It may be regarded as injurious to some, but it must 

 be admitted to be highly beneficial to others. He had known many aged 

 persons who claimed to be sustained almost entirely by coffee.- Talleyrand 

 and other statesmen who have attained great age, used this beverage very 

 freely. AVhile the drinking of strong coffee by the young should be -dis- 

 couraged, its use among those who have passed the meridian of life should 

 not be objected to, because it tends to check the destructive processes that 

 are constantly in operation in the human system, and the recuperative 

 processes are therefore not required to be so powerful, in other words the 

 body is constantly being rebuilt b}'- means of a less quantity of food. 



Testing Illuminating Gas. 



Dr. Parmelee said the discussion of the previous meeting had prompted 

 him to make a test before the audience of the gas now being used in the 

 lecture room. He had before him a bottle of Crotou water, and he pro- 

 posed to place in it acetate of lead. He would saturate a piece of white 

 paper with the salt, and expose it to a stream of the gas, and if there was 

 any appreciable quantity of sulphuretted hydrogen in it, the paper would 

 be blackened. He would also turn a stream of the gas into the solution. 



