despotism, operated in Constantinople to its detriment;--by dispelling
the torpitude brought on by their vicious excesses, and recruiting
their spirits, sunk by depravity of their habits, it introduced a
disposition among the Turks to exercise the understanding;--a crime in
every government that tolerates nothing but silent obedience.
RYCAUT says, that during the war in Candia, in the minority of
_Mahomet_ the IVth, when the Turkish affairs were in a critical
situation, “the _Visir Kupruli_ suppressed the Coffee-houses, though
he permitted the Taverns;” the former conducing to intellectual
recreation, and some speculations on the affairs of state, which the
_Visir_ thought would not bear examining. These were objections from
which the latter, as tending only to idleness and debauchery, was free.
This stupid edict appears to have had no other relative effect than to
diminish the revenue; for Coffee throve under this political, as well
as it did under the former religious, persecution.
HOWEVER ridiculous it may appear at this time, Coffee had the same
folly to encounter soon after its introduction into England; and
experienced the same treatment under _Charles_ the IId, that it met
with in Turkey under an _Amurath_ and a _Mahomet_: for having been
found an encourager of social meetings, Coffee-houses were shut up by
proclamation, as seminaries of sedition[22].
[22] Anno 1675.
THIS famous proclamation was dated 29th of December, 1675, and asserted
that, “Because in such houses, and by occasion of the meeting of
disaffected persons in them, divers false, malicious, and scandalous
reports were devised and spread abroad, to the defamation of his
_Majesty’s governments_ and to the disturbance of the quiet and peace
of the realm.”
THE opinion of the Judges was taken on this point, who in their great
wisdom resolved, “That retailing of Coffee might be an innocent trade;
but as it was used to nourish sedition, spread lies, and scandalize
_great men_, it might also be a common nuisance.”
RAY observed, that the part of Arabia which produced Coffee in such
abundance, might truly be styled happy[23]; from whence many millions
of bushels of this valuable treasure were then annually exported
to Turkey, Barbary, and Europe[24].--In Constantinople alone, the
consumption is said to amount to more than what is expended for wine in
Paris.
[23] The country of Yemen.
[24] The Abbé _Raynal_ says, that twelve millions five hundred and
fifty thousand pounds weight of Coffee is annually exported from
Arabia Felix; which, at 14 sols per pound, brings into that country
8,785,000 livres, 384,343l. 15s. sterling. The European Companies
purchase three millions five hundred thousand weight of this
commodity.
IT was long after Coffee had been an article of commerce, that
Europeans were able to obtain, or cultivate, the plant; as the berry
was exported dry, and unfit for propagation.
IT has been said, that a Frenchman, near _Dijon_ in France, was the
first person who made the experiment with success, about the year 1670:
the trees raised from the seeds he had sown produced berries, but
they were tasteless and insipid; and served for no other purpose than
curiosity.
ACCORDING to _Boerhaave’s_ account, a Dutch Governor was the first
person who procured fresh berries from Mocha, and planted them in
_Batavia_; and in the year 1690 sent a plant from thence to Amsterdam;
which came to maturity, and produced those berries which have since
furnished all that is now cultivated in the West Indies.
IN 1714 a plant, from the garden of Amsterdam, was sent by Mr.
_Pancras_, a Burgomaster, and Director of the Botanic Garden, as a
present to _Lewis_ the XIVth, which was placed in the garden at Marly.
In 1718 the Dutch began to cultivate Coffee in Surinam; in 1721 the
French began to cultivate it at Cayenne; in 1727 at Martinico; and in
1728 the English began to cultivate it in Jamaica.
M. FUSEE AUBLET, in his Observations on the Culture of Coffee, annexed
to the ingenious Mons. _Le Breton’s_ Paris translation of the third
edition of this Treatise, says that a Mons. _de Clieux_ carried the
first Coffee plant to Martinico in 1720; and that the French East-India
Company sent some plants to the Isle of Bourbon in 1717; and that one
plant only survived, which bore in 1720, and many were produced from it.
THE first plant in Jamaica was introduced by Sir _Nicholas Laws_,
and planted at Townwell estate, now called Temple Hall, in Liguanea,
belonging to Mr. _Luttrell_.--How its propagation has been extended
since those periods, in the West Indies, is well known.
SOME writers imagine that there are several sorts of Coffee[25]; but
the difference arises only from the soil, cultivation, curing, and
keeping, and not from any difference in the species.
[25] _Geoffry_, among others, was mistaken in this point.
IF the Coffee in our West-Indian Islands be planted in a dry soil, and
in a warm situation; if, after the trees have acquired a certain age,
the ripe berries are collected with care and cleanliness, which will
be small when dry, cream-coloured, and with a smooth polished surface,
like those which come from Arabia; and if they are kept a proper time
before they are used; this Coffee will have flavour and excellence
equal to the best that is imported from Mocha.
BUT the time and labour necessary to produce Coffee of the best quality
have discouraged our Planters from raising it at much expence; because,
until lately, it has been subject to a precarious, or losing market.
Therefore quantity, and large coarse berries of a green dingy cast,
the produce of young trees, luxuriant soil, and little attention, has
turned to better account than quality; as this produce, though unfit
for the London market, has been bought up for the consumption of the
Northern parts of Europe[26].
[26] Mr. _Fuller_ observes in his letter, “I would recommend to the
Planters, not to covet the production of the large berries, the
smallest being deemed the best by our buyers here, and fetching
the most money; perhaps not absolutely from its being of the best
quality, but because it admits of being mixed with the Mocha Coffee,
and sold as such.”
AFTER Coffee has received all the excellence it can from the Planter,
it is a matter of great consequence, that proper care be taken in
shipping it for Europe: it should not be put into parts of the vessel
where it may be injured by dampness, or by the effluvia of other
freight. Coffee-berries are remarkably disposed to imbibe exhalations
from other bodies, and thereby acquire an adventitious and disagreeable
flavour. Rum placed near to Coffee will in a short time so impregnate
the berries, as to injure their flavour. It is said, that a few bags of
pepper on board a ship from India, some years since, spoiled a whole
cargo of Coffee[27].
[27] _Miller._
THE French are more attentive in this respect than the English; and
indeed they omit nothing that can give their Coffee any advantage.
But if their Coffee be superior to ours, it is the effect of
more encouragement. The industry and genius of the French Coffee
Planters have been cherished; ours have been restricted by a duty,
which prevented the consumption of the article. Thus the spirit of
cultivation has been checked, improvement retarded, and consequently
the produce not brought to perfection.
THE chemical analysis of Coffee evinces that it possesses a great
portion of mildly bitter, and lightly astringent gummous and resinous
extract[28]; a considerable quantity of oil[29]; a fixed salt[30]; and
a volatile salt[31].--These are its medicinal constituent principles.
[28] _Newman_ obtained eight ounces from sixteen ounces of roasted
Coffee, by aqueous and spirituous menstruums.
[29] _Bourdelin_ obtained six ounces six drams from two pounds and an
half of roasted Coffee: and _Houghton_, Phil. Trans. obtained two
ounces four drams two scruples from one pound of unroasted Coffee.
_Du Four_ obtained two ounces five drams.
[30] _Le Fevre_, _Newman_, _Lemery_, _Bourdelin_, obtained nine drams
and an half from two pounds and an half of roasted Coffee.
[31] _Floyer_, _Bourdelin_, obtained a volatile salt, that
effervesced strongly with spirit of salt.
THE intention of torrefaction is not only to make it deliver those
principles, and make them soluble in water, but to give it a property
it does not possess in the natural state of the berry.
BY the action of fire, its leguminous taste and the aqueous part of
its mucilage are destroyed; its saline properties are created, and
disengaged, and its oil is rendered empyreumatic.--From thence arises
the pungent smell, and exhilarating flavour, not found in its natural
state[32].
[32] There always prevailed a notion among the chemists, particularly
with _Paracelsus_ and his followers, that in the empyreumatic oils of
plants were many medicinal virtues undiscovered. The oil of Coffee,
in itself, is almost insipid.
ANIMAL oils are changed by fire in the same manner in broiled meats,
and acquire that grateful odour so exciting to weak appetites.
IMITATIONS of Coffee have been procured from roasted beans, peas,
wheat, and rye, with almonds; but the delicacy of the oil in Coffee,
which the fire, in roasting, converts into its peculiar empyreuma, is
not to be equalled.
THE roasting of the berry to a proper degree, requires great nicety:
_Du Four_ justly remarks, that the virtue and agreeableness of the
drink depend on it, and that both are often injured in the ordinary
method. _Bernier_ says, when he was at _Cairo_, where it is so much
used, he was assured by the best judges, that there were only two
people in that great city, in the public way, who understood the
preparing it in perfection[33].
[33] _Bernier’s_ Letter to _Du Four_.
IF it be under-done, its virtues will not be imparted, and in use it
will load and oppress the stomach:--If it be over-done, it will yield
a flat, burnt, and bitter taste, its virtues will be destroyed, and in
use it will heat the body, and act as an astringent[34].
[34] “Cetera bonitas Caovæ præcipuè dependet à curiosa et exquisita
tostione.” _Ray._
FOURTEEN pounds weight of raw Coffee is generally reduced, at the
public roasting houses in London, to eleven pounds by the roasting;
for which the dealer pays seven pence half-penny, at the rate of
five shillings for every hundred weight. In Paris, the same quantity
is reduced to ten pounds and an half. But the roasting ought to be
regulated by the age and quality of the Coffee, and by nicer rules
than the appearance of the fumes, and such as are usually practised:
therefore the reduction must consequently vary, and no exact standard
can be ascertained. Besides, by mixing different sorts of Coffee
together, that require different degrees of heat and roasting, Coffee
has seldom all the advantages it is capable of receiving, to make it
delicate, grateful, and pleasant. This indeed can be effected no way so
well as by people who have it roasted in their own houses, to their own
taste, and fresh as they want it for use.
THE closer it is confined at the time of roasting, and till used, the
better will its volatile pungency, flavour, and virtues, be preserved.
COARSE, rank, new Coffee, is meliorated by being kept after it is
roasted, before it is used.
THE influence which Coffee, judiciously prepared, imparts to the
stomach, from its invigorating qualities, is strongly exemplified
by the immediate effect produced on taking it, when the stomach is
over-loaded with food, or nauseated with surfeit, or debilitated by
intemperance, or languid from inanition.
TO constitutionally weak stomachs, it affords a pleasing sensation; it
accelerates the process of digestion, corrects crudities, and removes
the cholic, and flatulencies.
BESIDES its effect on the gastric powers, it diffuses a genial warmth
that cherishes the animal spirits, and takes away the listlessness and
languor[35], which so greatly embitter the hours of nervous people,
after any deviation to excess, fatigue, or irregularity.
[35] _Baglivi._
THE foundation of all the mischiefs of intemperance is laid in the
stomach; when that is injured, instead of preparing the food, that the
lacteals may carry into the constitution sweet and wholesome juices to
the support of health, it becomes the source of disease, and disperses
through the whole frame the cause of decay.
FROM the warmth and efficacy of Coffee in attenuating the viscid
fluids, and increasing the vigour of the circulation, it has been used
with great success in some cases of fluor albus, and in the dropsy[36];
and also in worm complaints[37];--and in those camatose, anasarcous,
and such other diseases as arise from unwholesome food, want of
exercise, weak fibres, and obtruded perspiration.
[36] “C’est sans doute son fréquent usage qui garentit les Turcs de
l’hydropisie.” _Du Four_, p. 129.
[37] _Anthelminticum_ audit, et hinc pueris sæpe confertur, copiosius
vero haustum, parvos eos reddit, deoque non facile his ordinandum. Si
quis aliquot Cyathos decocti saturatioris hauriat, vermes plerumque
e ventriculo in intestina descendere experitur; si mox purgatio
propinetur, invisi hi hospites hac methodo expelluntur. _Linnæi_,
Amœnitat. Academ. Vol. VI. p. 178.
IN vertigo, lethargy, catarrh, and all disorders of the head from
obstruction in the capillaries, long experience has proved it to be a
powerful medicine[38]; and in certain cases of apoplexy, it has been
found serviceable even when given in glysters, where it has not been
convenient to convey its effects by the stomach. Mons. _Malebranche_
restored a person from an apoplexy by repeated glysters of Coffee[39].
[38] “La tête est la partie de tout le corps sur laquelle le Caffé
produit de plus considérables effets; car par son usage ordinaire, on
prévient presque surement l’apoplexie, la paralysie, la lethargie, et
presque toutes les autres maladies soporeuses.” _De Bleguy_, p. 180.
[39] Hist. de l’Acad. de Sciences, 1702.
THERE are but few people who are not informed of its utility for the
head-ach; the steam sometimes is very useful to mitigate pains of the
head.
In the West Indies, where the violent species of head-ach, such as
cephalæa, hemicrania, and clavus, are more frequent, and more severe
than in Europe, Coffee is often the only medicine that gives relief.
Opiates are sometimes used, but Coffee has an advantage that Opium does
not possess; it may be taken in all conditions of the stomach; and at
all times by women, who are most subject to these complaints; as it
dissipates those congestions and obstructions that are frequently the
cause of the disease, and which Opium is known to increase, when its
temporary relief is past[40].
[40] Ego cum Lugduni Batavorum studiis operam darem, per totum annum
Cephalæa miserè laboravi; et postquam potui copiose Teé, et præcipuè
quidem _Coffee_ quotidie sumendo assuevi, semper immunis ab ea vixi,
non tantúm sed ab omni alio incommodo, quamvis antea ita vixerim,
ut mortis haberet vices lenta quæ trahebatur mihi vita gementi, qui
per totum quinquennium cum longa morborum serie acriter conflictavi.
_Ray._
FROM the stimulant and detergent properties of Coffee, it may be
used to an extent to be serviceable in all obstructions arising from
languid circulation. It assists the secretions, promotes the menses,
and mitigates the pains attendant on the sparing discharge of that
evacuation.
In the West Indies, the chlorosis and obstructed menses are common
among laborious negro females, exposed to the effects of their own
carelessness, and the rigorous transitions of the climate; there
strong Coffee is often employed as a deobstruent; which, drank warm in
a morning fasting, and using exercise after it, has been productive
of many cures[41]. From its possessing these qualities, _Geoffrey_
cautions pregnant women, and such as are subject to excessive
menstruation, to use it in moderation.
[41] “Utuntur tamen ejus decocto ad roborandum ventriculum
frigidiorem, adjuvandamque concoctionem, et non minùs ad auferendas
a visceribus obstructiones; in tumoribusque hepatis lienifque
frigidis, et antiquis obstructionibus, feliciori cum successu
decoctum multos dies experiuntur. Quod etiam uterum maximè respicere
videtur, ipsum enim excalfacit, obstructionesque ab eo aufert, sic
enim in familiari usu est apud omnes Ægyptias, Arabasque mulieres,
ut semper, dum fluunt menses, ipsorum vacuationem, hujus decocti
ferventis multum paulatim sorbillantes, adjuvent. Ad promovendos
etiam, in quibus suppressi sunt, usus hujus decocti, purgato corpore
multis diebus, utilissimus est.” _P. Alpin._ Lib. de Plantis Ægypti,
cap. 16.----“Pellens est; qua ratione, non sine fructu, tanquam
emmenagogum, in menstruis suppressis adhibetur. _Linnæi_, Amœnitat.
Acad. Vol. VI. p. 179.
THE industrious overseers of plantations, and other Europeans employed
in cultivation in the West Indies, who are exposed to the morning and
evening dews, find great support from a cup of Coffee before they go
into the field: it fortifies the stomach, and guards them against the
diseases incident to their way of life; especially in clearing lands;
or when their residence is in humid situations, or in the vicinity of
stagnant water. Those who are imprudently addicted to intemperance find
Coffee a benign restorer of the stomach, for that nausea, weakness, and
disorderly condition, which is brought on by drinking bad fermented
liquors, and new rum, to excess.
IN continued and remitting fevers in hot climates, it frequently
happens, at the period when bark is indicated, that the stomach cannot
retain it.--This is an embarrassment of great importance, in which the
practitioner has an interval, only of a few hours, to decide on his
patient’s fate.--Bark in substance is required to answer the intention;
and here, as well as in many cases of intermittents, when every other
mode of administering bark has proved abortive, Coffee has been found
an agreeable and a successful vehicle.
IN obstinate intermittents, where a course of bark has been long
continued, it seldom fails to increase those visceral obstructions
which are incidental to the disease itself.
TO assist the bark in its operation, I have often used Coffee; and have
known instances where it has removed slight intermittents; and for
those obstructions, which the disease, or bark, or both, frequently
leave after them, and which patients are often obliged to suffer,
as the least evacuation brings on a return of fever, I have also
recommended Coffee, to make a considerable portion in the diet, with
advantage.
COFFEE having the property of promoting perspiration[42], it allays
thirst and checks preternatural heat.
[42] _Leewenhoek_, _Huxham_.
Sir _John Chardin_, when in Persia[43], cured himself of a bloody flux
by drinking four cups of hot Coffee, and going to bed, and covering
himself well with bed clothes. But this cure was occasioned by the
perspiration it produced; though he attributed it to some specific
quality in the Coffee.
[43] Anno 1671.
THE great use of Coffee in France is supposed to have abated the
prevalency of the gravel.--In the French Colonies, where Coffee is
more used than in the English, as well as in Turkey, where it is the
principal beverage, not only the gravel, but the gout, those tormentors
of so many of the human race, are scarcely known[44].
[44] _Urinam_ copiose pellit, imprimis si aqua misceatur; quosdam
calculo obnoxios Halmiæ novimus, qui cyathum Coffeæ murrhinum vitro
aquæ frigidæ, libra una repleto, infundunt, idque horis consumunt
matutinis, qui unanimiter fatentur, quod vix aliud ipsis sit notum,
urinam et fabulum copiosius pellens. _Linnæi_, Amœnitat. Acad. Vol.
VI. p. 177.
TAVERNIER says, the Persians are totally unacquainted with the gout
and gravel; and Mons. _Spon_, a celebrated Physician at Lyons, who had
travelled in the East, says, these diseases are rarely met with in the
Levant, which they attribute to the great use of Coffee in those parts
of the world. But climate, I apprehend, which the encomiasts of Coffee
will not admit, ought to be taken into the account.
DU FOUR relates, as an extraordinary instance of the effects of Coffee
in the gout, the case of Mons. _Deverace_. He says, this gentleman was
attacked with the gout at twenty-five years of age, and had it severely
until he was upwards of fifty, with chalk stones in the joints of
his hands and feet; but for four years preceding, the account of his
case being given to _Du Four_, to lay before the publick, he had been
recommended the use of Coffee, which he adopted, and had no return of
the gout afterwards[45].
[45] “Elle est salutaire aux goutteux par l’expérience particulière
de nos goutteux, qui s’y sont habitués: car ils en tirent du moins
ce bénefice que leur accês sont moins fréquent et beaucoup plus
supportables.” _De Blegny_, p. 185. et 186.
COFFEE has been found useful in quieting the tickling vexatious cough
that often accompanies the small pox[46], and other eruptive fevers.--A
dish of strong Coffee without milk or sugar, taken frequently in the
paroxysm of some asthmas, abates the fit; and I have often known it to
remove the fit entirely. Sir _John Floyer_, who had been afflicted with
the asthma from the seventeenth year of his age until he was upwards
fourscore, found no remedy in all his elaborate researches, until the
latter part of his life, when he obtained it by Coffee.
[46] _Huxham._
PREPARED strong and clear, and sweetened agreeably with sugar-candy,
and diluted, while hot, with a great portion of boiling milk, it
becomes an highly nutritious and balsamic diet; proper in such hectic
and pulmonic complaints, where a milk diet is useful[47]; and is a
great restorative to constitutions emaciated by the gout and other
chronic disorders[48].
[47] “Elle est d’un effet merveilleux pour ceux qui ont la poitrine
naturellement foible, ou accidentellement affoiblie par le rheume,
par le toux inveterée, par une pulmonie naissante, et par ces autres
espèces de fluxions qui rendent la voix rauque, et qui causent
l’asthme et la courte haleine.” _De Blegny_, p. 189.
[48] This is the best method of preparing _Milk Coffee_. It may be
sweetened with good Muscovada sugar, in costive habits, or where
sugar-candy cannot be had.
NIEUHOFF, a German physician, in his account of the embassy from
Holland to China in 1675, first described the advantage of milk Coffee
in pulmonic complaints.
Mons. _Monin_, an eminent physician of Grenoble, performed many
extraordinary cures with it among consumptive people, when a milk
diet, asses milk, and the air of Montpellier, had proved ineffectual.
He relates the following case of his wife; of whom, he says,--“she
had been in a consumption for sixteen years, and was at the point
of death lately with a peripneumony. The inflammation of the lungs
was removed by the ordinary methods in eight days; there remained a
very troublesome cough, an heat in the lungs, and quick pulse, with
a great dryness of the skin, which made me apprehend she would fall
again into her consumptive state. I prepared her by gentle purgatives
and aperient medicines, as her bowels were in a bad state, and her
spleen obstructed, and put her on a course of asses milk, which
she took regularly for a month, but without the least success; her
pulse remained the same, her cough was worse, she spit more, her
complexion was yellow, sometimes greenish; she complained of heats,
and oppressions of her breast, notwithstanding the exact regimen, and
gentle purgatives repeated every week. Finding that the asses milk was
useless, I again put her on a course of her former milk Coffee, of
which she took about a quart every day for six weeks, purging her every
ten or twelve days. This course was so favourable to her, that all the
symptoms before-mentioned ceased in the first eight days; her appetite
soon returned, and she grew more _en bon point_ than she had ever been
in her life.”