178 LETTER XIV. 



Coffee, and various kinds of fever barks, especially 

 that of Peru, are among its useful products. Now, if 

 you gave the Honeysuckle tribe well defined stipules 

 at the base of the leaves, you would convert them into 

 plants of the Coffee tribe ; for, notwithstanding many 

 other differences in particular instances, the two 

 natural orders, viewed in a general manner, can 

 hardly be said to be absolutely distinguishable by 

 any other character. I would, therefore, recommend 

 you to take this as the true distinction, and not 

 to trouble yourself about further differences, unless 

 you intend to study Botany minutely. Coffee itself 

 consists of the seeds of the plant, divested of their 

 skins, and of a dark purple fleshy rind that enveloped 

 them. They are formed almost entirely of albumen, 

 in the base of which a very small embryo is placed. 

 A seed of any commom Honeysuckle {figs. 6. & 7« 

 Plate XIV. 2.) will shew you this ; for, in all that 

 regards the seed, the Coffee tribe and the Honey- 

 suckles agree. I have said that Triosteum has proved 

 the best of all substitutes for Coffee ; a circumstance 

 that will not now surprise you ; but it is probable 

 that other plants of either the Honeysuckle or Coffee 

 tribes, would answer the purpose equally well, pro- 

 vided their seeds are large enough, and their albumen 

 of a hard horny texture. 



