( I 
Under this fecond Skin lye generally 
two Kernels, fometimes one. 
I lhall be very far from denying, but 
that the greateft part of this Defer iption 
was the refultof the Author’s own Obfer- 
vations, tho’ at the fame time it is cer- 
tain, that every particular in it had been 
taken notice of long before the Date of 
his Letter, by Authors, whom perhaps, 
he did not give himfelf the trouble to 
confult*, and even the principal Propofi- 
tion which all his Letter is defign’d to 
prove, viz., that the Coffee Fruit is of 
the Nut-kind, is a Conclufion, that, ac- 
cording to the common ufe of Language, 
might eafily have been drawn from Pre- 
miffes as old as J. B. and Parkinfon % for 
it was very natural to infer, that a Fruit 
which confifts only of a Nucleus or Ker- 
nel, and Shell, as thefe Authors have ex- 
preffedthemfelves, was rather of the Nut 
kind than any other. 
What part of this Nut ought to be 
reckoned the Kernel, is not hard to de- 
termine; As for the Shell, I have already 
taken notice, that the firft of the proper 
Coats feems beft to anfwer that*, our 
Author has chofen the common or outer 
Coat, and he is in the right to lay, it is 
almoft as thick as that of the Pi]iachoe\ 
but then, if I am not miftaken, it is not 
by virtue of tliat outer Coat, that the 
Pifiachoe is called 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 Subftance nor 
Situation. 
By W'hat this Author (ays further, that 
under the fecond thin Skin, lye general- 
ly tw'o Kernels, it would feeni that he 
looked upon it, not as a proper, but a 
common Coat, as much as the other*, but 
how this can be, I do not fo well under- 
ftand, fince not only each Kernel in par- 
ticular is quite furrounded by this Coat^ 
but being thus involved, is intirely fepe- 
rated from the other, by means of the 
Septum. 
It appears by the Date of Dr. Rohinfens 
Letter, that it w'as written ito Mr. Ray 
the Year before the fecond Volume of his 
Hifiory of Plants appeared, and tlicrefore 
it may feem ftrange, that after all the 
Pains this Author had been at, he (hould 
not have been able to pcfwade his Cor- 
refpondent to rank his Coffee Frutex, 
not amongft the Bacciferous Plants, as he 
has done, but amongil; the Nuciferous. 
But the Difference propably lay only in 
the ufe of a Word, Mr. Rays Arbores 
Nucifera fruPiu per Maturitatem Skeo.^ 
differing only from the Baccifera of that 
kind, in fize, as he himfelf informs us. 
Both Lemerys tell us, that the Cortex 
of the Coffee Fruit is a pretty hard ligne- 
ous Husk. 
In TourtieforPi poflhumous Treatife we 
are told that the Seeds are inclofed in 
Husks, for the moft part confiiling but of 
one Cell, fometimes of two. By this, I 
fuppofe, the Author means no more than 
that for the moft part, each Husk con- 
tains but one Seed, and in what fenfe that 
is true, 1 have already taken Notice. 
F’olkamerus., who had feen the Coffee 
Plant in a bearing State, but has only de- 
feribed it as far as he thought it neceffa- 
ry to determine what Familv it was of, 
tells us, that the Fruit confifts of two 
Kernels, lying upon one another, inclu- 
ded in a juicy Pericarpkan *, but I do not 
fb well fee the force of the Inference he 
draws from thence, that therefore the 
Coffee Tree is to be ranked among the 
Bacciferous Kind. 
What De Juffieu has told us concern- 
ing the Fruit upon the Tree is, that it 
ends in an Vmbilkus.f being at firft of a 
light green Colour, tJien reddifh, after- 
wards of a very beautiful Red, and, when 
perfeftly ripe, of a dark Red. 
The Pulp is glairous or mucilaginous,’ 
of an unpleafant Tafte, and when dried, 
becomes like that of a dried black Prune. 
Under this Pulp lie two thin oval Coats, 
clofely adhering together, convex on one 
fide and flat on the other, by which they 
touch, and of a yellow ilia white Colour* 
Monfieur La Roque much to the fame 
purpofc, deferibes the colour of the Fruit 
to be green at firft, but that it grows 
red as it ripens. 
The Sun having at length dried this red 
Fruit, the Pulp becomes a Husk of a 
dark brown Colour, which makes the firft 
or outer Cortex of the Coffee Bean, and 
within it lies another thin Membrane, 
which makes the fecond or inner Cortex. 
Mr. Bradley agrees with thefe two Au- 
thors, pretty much about the Colour of 
the 
