( 4 + ) 
« or rather Shell (being as thick almoft as 
‘ that of a Pijlachio) is of a dark Colour; 
* the fecond, or interior Membrane, that 
’* covers the Kernels is much finer, and of 
‘ a yellowifh white Colour. Under this 
‘ fecond Skin lie generally two Kernels, 
‘ fometimes one. 
What Part of this Nut ought to be rec- 
kon’d the Kernel is eafily determin’d : As 
for the Shell, I have already taken Notice, 
that the firft of the proper Coats feems beft 
to anfwer that : Dr. Robinfon has chofen 
the common or outer Co it, and he is in 
the right to fay it is almoft as thick as that 
of the Piftachoe; but then, if I am not 
miftaken, it is not by virtue of that outer 
Coat that the Piftachoe is call’d a Nut, but 
on account of a hard Shell that lies under 
it, to which the outer Coat of the Coffee 
Fruit has no Refemblance, neither in Sub- 
ftance nor Situation. By what he fays fur- 
ther, that under this fecond Skin lie gene- 
rally two Kernels, it would feem that he 
look’d upon it not as a proper but as a com- 
mon Coat, as much as the other; but how 
this can be, I do not fo well underftand, 
fince not only each Kernel in particular is 
quite furrounded by this Coat; but being 
thus involv’d, is intirely feparated from the 
other by means of the Septum. In fine, by 
the Date of this Letter it appears that it 
■was written the Year before the fecond Vo- 
lume of Mr. Ray's Hftory of Plants was 
publifh’d ; and therefore it may feem ftrange, 
that after all the Pains this Author had been 
at, he fhould not have been able to perfuade 
his Correfpondent to rank his CoStt Frutex 
not among the bacciferous Plants, as he 
has done, but among the nuciferous. The 
Difference however lay, probably, in the 
Ufe of a Word only, Mr. Ray's u 4 rbores 
nucifera fruEiu per maturitatem Jicco^ being, 
as he himfelf informs us, in every thing, 
except in Size, the fame with the Baccifera 
of that kind. 
What I have hitherto remark’d concern- 
ing the Refemblance of the Coffee Fruit to 
a Nut, muft be underftoodof the dry Ber- 
ries only; for in the frefh Fruit all the Co- 
verings are fo perfedly foft and pulpy, that 
they can in no Senfe, neither fingly nor to- 
gether, be faid to form a Shell. And whe- 
ther a Fruit, which while it hangs upon the 
Tree is certainly not a Nut, can afterwards, 
by drying, be changed into one, I leave to 
thofe who are better vers’d than I in fuch 
Diftindions, to determine. 
There is nothing but Repetitions to be 
met with in the other Author-, before the 
Year 1^94, in which Sir Hans Sloane in- 
forms us that the Fruit comes out ex alls 
foliornmi hanging orfticking to the Twigs 
by Inch-long Strings or Foot-Stalks; and 
fometimes one, two or more at the fame 
Place. 
Both Lemerjs obferve that this is a fmall 
longifh Fruit, round like a Pignon (which 
I fuppofe to be the Seed of the Ricinus A- 
mericanm') and that the Cortex is a pretty 
‘hard ligneous Husk. 
In Fournef art's pofthumous Treatife of 
the Materia Medica^ we are told that the 
Seeds are inclofed in Husks; for the moft 
part confifting but of one Cell, fometimes 
of two. By this I fuppofe the Author 
means no more, than that for the moft part 
each Husk contains but one Seed. This is 
true with refpeft to the intire Coffee Fruit 
that is imported into Europe : but with re- 
fped to all the Coffee Fruit produced in 
Arabia Felix^ juft the contrary is to be 
faid. 
Volk^merus^ who had feen the Coffee 
Plant in a bearing State, tells us that the 
Fruit confifts of two Kernels lying upon 
one another, included in a juicy Pericar- 
pium'y and from thence he concludes that 
the Plant it felf ought to be ranked among 
the bacciferous Kind. 
Mr. Bradley, in his firft Treatife, ob- 
ferves, that ‘ about Oblober thefe Trees have 
‘ done blowing, and then they are com- 
‘ monly well fet with green Fruit, which 
* hang on them till the July following be- 
‘ fore they are ripe; they refemble at that 
‘ time the Berries of the Lauro Cerafus, or 
« Bay Cherry, and are much of the fame 
‘ Shape and Colour, (i.e. of a dark red^ 
‘ but inftead of a fingle Stone, thefe have 
* two Kernels which fplit in the Middle, 
‘ like the Bay Berries of the Shops. ’ He 
has faid nothing further about the Coffee 
Fruit in any of his later Works. 
What belongs to this Article, from M. 
De JeJfieu is. That * the Embrio or young 
* Fruit grows nearly to the Bignefs of a 
‘ Heart-Cherry, and is pretty much of the 
‘ fame Figure with it; but that when it is 
‘ perfectly ripe and dry, it is reduced to 
‘ the Size of a Laurel Berry. The Fruit 
‘ ends in an VmbilicuSy being at firft of a 
‘ light green Colour, then reddiih ; after- 
‘ wards of a very beautiful red, and when 
‘ perfedly ripe, of a dark red. The Pulp 
‘ is glairous, or mucilaginous, of an un- 
‘ pleafant Tafte, and when dried becomes 
* like that of a black Prune. Under this 
‘ Pulp lie two thin oval Coats, clofelyad- 
‘ hering together, convex on one Side, and 
‘ flat on the other, by which they touch ; 
* and of a yellowifli white Colour. 
Monf. La Ro^ue, much to the fame Pur- 
pofe, acquaints us, that ‘ to every Flower 
* fucceeds a fmall Fruit, but which by de- 
I ‘ grees 
