COFFEE. 



27 



Grated down, it is very like powdered cocoa in appearance. Two 

 spoonsful of the powder, mixed in a tumbler of water, is regarded as 

 a stimulant to the nerves, and, like strong tea or cofifee, is said to take 

 away the disposition to sleep. 



The active principle is an alkaloid, first discovered by Von Martius, 

 and called by him guaranine, but since shown * by Dr. Stenhouse to be 

 identical with theine. Guarana contains more than double as much 

 of this alkaloid as good black tea, and five times as much as coffee ; 

 the proportions being 5 • 07 per cent, in guarana, 2*13 per cent, in tea, 

 and about 1 per cent, in coffee. 



The same alkaloid is found to the amount of 1*25 per cent, in 

 mate or Paraguay tea, the produce of several species of Ilex. It is 

 rather a singular coincidence that the same alkaloid should prevail in 

 all the principal substances employed in a similar manner as beverages 

 in different parts of the world. 



In addition to theine, guarana contains a colouring matter apparently 

 analogous to the tannin in cinchona bark, and also a fatty matter, 

 which, like cocoa butter, does not appear to become rancid by keeping. 

 The Indians of Brazil stain their faces with the colouring matter. 



There is exported annually from the city of Santarem about 

 16,000 lbs. of guarana, valued at Sd. or ^d. per pound ; near the Eio 

 Negro it sells for very much less, but on the continent of Europe it 

 has been sold occasionally, for its alleged medicinal properties, at 

 almost fabulous prices — in France sometimes at 20s. per ounce, 



COFFEE. 



After tea there is scarcely any other staple of commerce used for 

 dietetic beverages that has made more rapid progress in the world, or 

 gained for itself more general acceptation with all classes, than coffee. 

 Its constantly increasing consumption as a beverage, as seen in the 

 statistical tables given, clearly proves that it may be regarded not only 

 as one of the necessaries of life, but also as a very important one. The 

 continued increase in the demand for coffee, irrespective of climatic 

 influences, will of necessity extend the present area of its cultivation 

 largely into those belts of land which are favourable to the production 

 of the plant. These lands are found lying principally between the 

 isothermal lines of 25° north and 30° south of the equator. It has 

 been ascertained that the plant cannot be grown to advantage in places 

 where the thermometer descends at any time below 65°. 



Besides the existing countries where coffee is cultivated, there are 

 many other places where it might be extensively grown, such, for 

 instance, as the western coast of Africa generally, the interior ranges 

 of Natal, the mountain ranges on the northern coast of Australia, from 

 Moreton Bay to Torres Straits, &c. Soil and climate are the circum- 

 stances which chiefly affect its commercial value. The cultivation of 

 coffee is now widely diffused over all tropical parts of the world. It is 

 found in most of the West India Islands, in the provinces of Central 



* ' riiarm. Joiirn.' vol. xvi. p. 212. 



