128 



Coffic acid 

 unites with 

 various bases, 



but most feebly 

 with alkalies. 

 Decomposed 

 and reduced to 

 malic acid. 



Contains much 

 carbon with 

 little hidrogen. 



Component 

 parts of the 

 watery extract. 



Ashes. 



Remote princi 

 pics of coffee. 



ON PLATINA. 



13. That the acid of coffee is capable of uniting with a 

 great many bases, and forming peculiar salts, decomposable 

 with more or less facility by fire, and the powerful acids ; 

 and that its affinities appear to follow a law altogether dif- 

 ferent from that of most of the known acids, since its 

 union with alkalis seems to be the weakest. 



14. That it is decomposed by hot sulphuric acid, and the 

 nitric, muriatic, and oxigenized muriatic acid ; and reduced 

 by the latter, as well as by the nitric, to malic acid. 



15. That, from the products obtained by its analysis by 

 fire, it appears to be composed of a great deal of carbon, 

 with less hidrogen and oxigen. 



16. That 100 parts of aqueous extract of coffee, the 

 product of about 750 parts of the berries, afforded me of 

 coffic acid 55, extractive matter 25, vegetable albumen 5, and 

 resinous matter 9 ; the loss being 6. 



17. That, to adopt the language of modern chemistry, 

 this acid ought to be called the coffic^ from the name of the 

 substance from which it is taken. 



18. That the incinerated residuum of coffee is composed 

 of muriate of potash, lime, and a portion of iron, the 

 quantity of which was too small to be ascertained. 



19. Finally that coffee, from all that has been said, is a 

 substance containing carbon in much larger proportions 

 than hidrogen, oxigen, or azote; the existence of all these 

 having been evidently demonstrated by the formation of 

 oil, pyromucous acid, carbonic acid, and ammonia united 

 with this acid, in the destructive distillation of coffee. 



IV. 



Platina found 

 only in South 

 America. 



Account of the Existence of Platina in the Silver Mines of 

 Guadalcanal^ in the Province of Estrcmadura. By 

 M. Vauquelin*. 



JLIITHERTO platina had been found only among the 

 gold mines in South America, at Santa Fe, and in the bai- 

 liwick of Choco. There was a report a few years ago, 



* An. de China. Vol. LX. p. 317, Dec. 1806. 



that 



