162 DESCRIPTIVE BOTANY. 



It was not known in Italy in 1615. In 1645, some men returning home 

 from Constantinople to Marseilles took with them a supply of coffee, with 

 suitable vessels for preparing it for the table; it was thus introduced into 

 France. About twenty years later a house was opened at Marseilles for the 

 sale of coffee. 



In 1671 the first coffee-house was established at Paris. Other places were 

 soon opened for its sale, but upon a very humble scale, and fashionable people 

 did not resort to them. Some Prenchmeu, shrewdly guessing the reason for 

 a want of genteel patronage, fitted up a coffee-house in a liberal and elegant 

 style, to which well-bred people were attracted. About the same time a suc- 

 cessful coffee-house was opened at London. 



Nieber, in his account of coffee, maintains that it was grown upon the hills 

 of Yemen in Arabia, introduced from Abyssinia by the Arabs, long before it 

 was used by Europeans. 



Chemistry. — Coffee yields to chemical analysis the same substances that are 

 found ill tea, though in different quantities , hence the effects upon the nerves 

 and the circulation are similar to those produced by tea. 



In 100 parts of tea in a dry state there is one part of thein ; in the same 

 quantity of coffee there is only one half as much. Of nitrogenous substances, 

 there are in tea 25 parts, in coffee, 13 ; but of essential oil, tea has about f of 

 1 per cent, while coffee has only yf ^ of 1 per cent. 



Tea has 12 parts of tannic acid, coffee has 5|. Potash, phosphoric acid, and 

 oxide of iron are found in both in nearly equal quantities, amounting to about 

 five per cent. 



Preparation. — Coffee is prepared by first browning it over a gentle heat, 

 called burning or roasting ; it is then crushed or ground ; hot water is applied 

 to it and kept at the boiling-point for a short time ; some substance is then 

 mixed with it to precipitate the grounds or powdered coffee held in suspen- 

 sion ; after Avhich, the liquor is poured into cups, and milk and sugar are 

 added to suit the taste. 



Use. — In most families it is used for breakfast, and for dinner. It is so 

 well known that further description is not necessary. 



Statistics. — No other warm dietetic beverage is so largely used as coffee. 

 It is the daily drink of more than 100,000,000 people We have no means 

 of knowing the actual consumption in Turkey and Africa, but the tables of 

 import show the consumption in other countries, m the several coffee- 

 drinking countries the consumption is as follows : — 



In the United States of North America, 400,000,000 of pounds are annually 

 consumed, which is equal to 8 pounds for every man, Avomau, and child. The 

 amount used in Holland is equal to 21 pounds for each person. In Belgium 

 and Denmark the consumption is equal to 13 pounds for a person ; in Norway, 

 10 pounds; in Switzerland, 7 ; and in Sweden, 6. These are the great coffee- 

 drinking peoples of Europe and America. In the kingdom of Great Britain, 

 a greater amount of tea is used than in any other nation, amounting to about 

 4 pounds for each individual ; the amount of coffee consumed is only one 

 pound to each person. 



CEPHAELIS, Swartz. Calyx bell-shaped, toothed ; corolla tubular, 

 inflated at throat, 5-parted ; stamens 5 ; stigmas 2-parted. Flowers 

 crowded into a head, inclosed in a 5-leaved envelope. Berry 2-seeded. 

 Shrub. 



