176 
VARIETIES. 
water, besmearing them with lime-juice or any other acid, and exposing 
them to the sun, their whiteness is easily restored. So little is known about 
these hats, that it may not be deemed out of place to insert here a notice 
of their manufacture. The "straw" (paja,) previous to plaiting, has to go 
through several processes. The leaves are gathered before they unfold, all 
their ribs and coarser veins removed, and the rest, without being separated 
from the base of the leaf, is reduced to shreds. After having been put in 
the sun for a clay, and tied into a knot, the straw is immersed into boiling 
water until it becomes white. It is then hung up in a shady place, and 
subsequently bleached for two or three days. The straw is now ready for 
use, and in this state sent to different places, especially to Peru, where the 
Indians manufacture from it those beautiful cigar-cases, which fetch some- 
times more than $30 apiece. The plaiting of the hats is very troublesome. 
It commences at the crown and finishes at the brim. They are made on a 
block, which is placed upon the knees, and requires to be constantly pressed 
with the breast. According to their quality, more or less time is occupied 
in their completion : the coarser ones may be finished in two or three days, 
the finest take as many months. The best times for plaiting are the morn- 
ing hours and the rainy season, when the air is moist: in the middle of the 
day and in dry clear weather, the straw is apt to break, which, when the 
hat is finished, is betrayed by knots, and much diminishes the value. — Ibid. 
An Improved Mode of Preparing Caffein. By H. J. Versmann, Apothe- 
cary, Lubeck. — All the authors have prepared caffein from good Brazilian 
coffee, and have operated on quantities of five, ten, and one hundred pounds. 
In the preparation of caffein,, the direction is usually given to boil the raw 
coffee-berries, to combine it with oxide of lead, and then to separate it by 
sulphuric acid. This plan the author has tried, but has found it rather 
unprofitable, and has gained but little profitable results. By the boiling, 
the gum, and the mucus with which the oil is combined in coffee, were dis- 
solved, and the separation of the pure caffein is rendered difficult. On the 
other hand, he recommends the following process, as simple and suitable to 
the purpose: — Ten parts of bruised coffee are mixed with two parts of 
caustic lime, previously converted into hydrate of lime. This mixture is 
placed in a displacement apparatus, with alcohol of 80°, until the fluid 
which passes through no longer furnishes evidence of the presence of 
caffein. The coffee is then roughly ground, and brought nearly to the state 
of a powder, and the refuse of the already once digested mixture from the 
displacement apparatus dried, and ground again, and, mixed with hydrate 
of lime, is once more macerated. The grinding is more easily effected after 
the coffee has been subjected to the operation of alcohol, having lost its 
horny quality, and the caffein is thus certainly extracted. The clear alco- 
holic fluid thus obtained is then to be distilled, and the refuse in the retort to 
be washed with warm water to separate the oil. The resulting fluid is then 
evaporated until it forms a crystalline mass, which is to be placed on a 
