ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY, 



CEYLON BRANCH. 



REMARKS ON SOME ANALYSES OF THE 

 COFFEE OF CEYLON, WITH SUGGESTIONS FOR 

 THE APPLICATION OF MANURES. 



By Dr. Rudolph Gygax. 

 (Read June 9, 1849.; 



Having had my attention drawn to an account of 

 some analyses of the Jamaica coffee berry, made by Mr. 

 Herepath, the Liverpool chemist, I have paid some little 

 attention to the subject of the coffee plant of this Island, 

 forming as it does so very important a feature in the 

 resources of this Colony. The desire that I thus felt for 

 obtaining some information regarding the constituent parts 

 of the Ceylon tree and its fruit was heightened by a know- 

 ledge of the fact that not a few of those coffee estates 

 which once gave good promise of success are now in a very 

 precarious state of production. 



I much regret that the means at my disposal have not 

 allowed me to carry out any quantitive analysis, but the 

 results of my labours are sufficiently accurate for present 

 purposes. I have analysed the wood and fruit of trees from 

 two different localities, as well as the ashes of some plants 

 sent me from the Rajawella estate, near Kandy, and they 

 all tend to bear out the result of Mr. Herepath's inquiries. 

 Placing the substances traced in the coffee plant in the order 



57—87 b 



