316 



PEOCEEDINGS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. 



[1855. 



1625 Iba., one of the stays was drawn through the iron plate, after 

 sustaining the pressure upwards of 1 J minutes, the swelling at 1505 

 lbs. having been -oJ-inch. The first series of experiments proved the 

 superior strength of the flat surfaces of a locomotive fire-box, as 

 compared with the top or even the cylindrical part of the boiler. The 

 latter evidenced an enormous resisting power, much greater than could 

 be attained in any other part of the boiler, however good the 

 construction ; and they showed that the weakest part of the box was 

 not in the copper but in the iron plates, which gave way by stripping 

 or tearing asunder the threads or screws in part of the iron plate. 

 According to the mathematical theory, the strength of the second plate 

 would have been 1273 lbs.; but it sustained 1625 lbs., showing an 

 excess of one-fourth above that indicated by the law, and that strength 

 decreased in a higher ratio than the increase of space between the 

 stays. The experiments show a close analogy as respects the strengths 

 of the stays when screwed into the plates, whether of copper or iron ; 

 and riveting added nearly 14 per cent, to the strength which the simple 

 screw aiforded. These experiments were conducted at a temperature 

 not exceeding 50° Fahrenheit. His experiments on the effects of 

 temperature on cast iron, did not indicate much loss of strength up to 

 a temperature of 600°; and he concluded that the resisting stays and 

 plates of locomotive boilers were not seriously affected by the increased 

 temperature to which they were subjected in a regular coui-se of working. 



Some £]xperixncut.s upou Cofl"ec as a Beverage. 



BY AUGUSTUS T. DALSON AND CHAELES M. WETHEEILL, PH. D., M. P. 



There are two great classes of beverages in use among all nations of 

 men, whether the most civilized or the most savage. One of these 

 classes is alcoholic, the other may be called, for brevity, the non-nitro- 

 genized. Physiologists are pretty generally agreed, that the nitro- 

 genized articles of food are especially effective by their union with 

 oxygen in the body in keeping up the supply of animal heat important 

 to life, and that if such food be liquid so as to be more quickly ab- 

 sorbed, it will effect its result more speedily. The South American 

 Indians ferment their maize, reducing it to pulp by mastication; the 

 Pacific Islanders prepare their arva from a root in a similar manner ; 

 the Tartars, Ai'abs and Turks ferment and distil the milk of mares and 

 cows, and among the more civilized nations, those of warm climates 

 employ mild wines, while those of cold countries prepare a stronger 

 alcoholic drink by distillation. In general, the colder the climate the 

 stronger is the drink and more deplor.able is the consequence of its 

 abuse. Whether this craving for alcohol in some form or other be an 

 instinct implanted in our nature or not, and if so, whether it be not 

 wiser to direct rather than to attempt to eradicate it, are questions 

 which are at present about being investigated experimentally on a 

 large scale in our country, and whatever be the result, are deeply in- 

 teresting, not only from a moral but from a psychological point of 

 view. The other class of beverages, containing nitrogen, is one, the 

 use of which is as widely spread as the former. Nitrogenized food is 

 supposed effective to replace the substance of the different organs of 

 the body, gradually wasted away by the processes of vitality. 



That which is the subject of this article, coffee, although in its intro- 

 duction, violently opposed and subjected to prohibitory laws, is at 

 present regarded as a boon to humanity, and is cultivated to the extent 

 of sis hundred millions of pounds weight. 



Besides the tannin in the coffee, and which is somewhat altered 

 during the process of roasting, the berry is characterized by two sub- 

 stances ; one, nitrogenized, caffeine, which is contained in the pro- 

 portion of about one per cent, (the same exists in nearly a double 

 proportion in tea,) and is not altered by the roasting process, and the 

 other a peculiar volatile oil developed during the roasting, existing in 

 an extremely minute quantity, and to which coffee owes its delicious 

 flavor. Dr. Julius Lehman [Liebig's Annalen ixxxvii, 205) has in- 

 Testigated the effects of these two substances upon the system, and has 

 shown that coffee retards the waste of the tissues of the body, and that 

 consequently its use diminishes the amount of food necessary to pre- 

 serve life. This effect he ascribes to the latter. These two acting to 

 excite to greater activity the nervous and vascular systems, give to the 

 wearied mind a greater elasticity and stimulate it to increased re- 

 flection. The increased activity of the heai-t, (and headache, &c., 

 when taken to excess) are caused by the caffeine, and the increased 

 action of the kidneys, the sudoriferous glands, and the intestines, 

 together with the restlessness and congestion cau.sed by an excess, he 



ascribes to the volatile oil. These effects were studied by Lehman by 

 analysis of the excretory products of a person in a normal condition, 

 and while under the influence of the above substances, and the con- 

 clusion is confirmed by deductions from observations made upon the 

 effect of coffee upon the poorer classes of people whose nourishment is 

 necessarily restricted. Much of the nutritive portion of coffee, namely, 

 that contained in the legumine of the berry, is lost by the European 

 method of making coffee, but the caffeine, contains nearly 29 per cent, 

 of nitrogen, and Payen has calculated that a quart of cafe au lait, con- 

 tains six times more nitrogen than an equal measure of flesh broth. 

 Liebig has called attention to the f.:ct that 140 milligrammes of caffeine 

 correspond to 31 of gall in the form of taurine, and that if a decoction 

 of coffee or tea contains only 0-05 centigrammes of caffeine, it must 

 produce an appreciable effect, if this substance conduces to the forma- 

 tion of bile, which seems probable from its beneficial effect in certain 

 diseases and in treatment for poisonings. — Journal of the Franklin Ins. 



CANADIAN INSTITUTE-ELECTION OK 

 MEMBERS. 



Coiiucil Sleetiug, April 35; 1855. 



The following gentlemen were provisionally* elected members of the 

 Institute: — 



George Morphy Toronto. 



J. G. Ridout 



W. C. Evans Montreal. 



Eev. J. G. Geddes Hamilton. 



Jiuie 19tU, 1855. 



Sir George Simpson Lachine, C.E. 



James Webster Guelph. 



William Wilson Simcoe. 



James Crawford Brockville. 



W. Kingsford, C.E Toronto. 



W. Hodgins, C.E HamiUon. 



Colonel Baron de Rottenburg Kingston. 



June 37tli, 1855. 



J. Russell, M.D Toronto. 



A. Jackes, M.D St. Catherines. 



Charles Jones Toronto. 



Alexander Murray Woodstock. 



* During the interval between the Sessions of the Institute, gentlemen desirous of 

 hecoming members may be provisiouaUy elected by the Council, it hen duly proposed, 

 and their election confirmed at the first ordinary meeting of the Institute iu the en- 

 suing Session. The formal election of members can only take place at an ordinary or 

 gener.ll meeting of the Institute. The first ordinary meeting of the Session of 1856-66 

 takes place on Saturday, December 1st, 1855. 



