QL204
.C6
N4
Neish, James
On a new beverage substance,
the kola nut, a product of
Jamaica
INSTITUTE OF JAMAICA
G-rs
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POPULAR LECTURES.
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O^FOUMTM SEBIE8.^&
ON
A HEW BEVERAGE SUBSTAMCE,
THE
KOLA NUT,
% grothitt jcrf Jamaica.
A LECTURE,
BY
JAMES NEISH, M.D., F.R.C.P.S., Can.
DELIVERED AT
glxs glooms of true %nstxt\xU, Mtptzmhsx 6, X887.
Hon. W. MALABRE, in the Chair.
1^1 m
KINGSTON, JAMAICA .*
DeCORDOVA & CO., Printers, Publishrrs, Stationers, &c.,
148, Harbour Street, Kingston.
1887.
6>,
N4.
THOMAS L. STEDMlN
SE*V>
19
J
i
$ I
INSTITUTE OF JAMAICA.
ON A NEW BEVERAGE SUBSTANCE. THE KOLA
NUT, A PRODUCT OF JAMAICA.
o
In this Lecture I propose to bring under your notice
some account of the Kola-nut, the seed of a tree growing in
this island. It will-be my^ aim to show that we have in this
product a new resource *of great value and importance. I
shall endeavour to point out the great intrinsic value of the
kola-nut on account of its medicinal qualities, and more par-
ticularly on account of its adaptability to take a place by the
side of coffee and chocolate as a beverage-substance, par-
_ taking as it does of the qualities of both these staple articles
of our agriculture and commerce. I shall also notice the
- horticultural capabilities of the kola as a hardy tree of easy
\\ culture and as adapted to be grown extensively on large areas
of unoccupied and otherwise unprofitable lands in Jamaica.
Here, then, is a prospect full of interest and promise, which,
if it can only be realised, will shed a ray of hope and be as a
silver lining behind the cloud of agricultural depression that
is still weighing so heavily on the sugar-planting and other
rural interests in this island. It will be shown in the course
of the remarks that this new beverage-substance may be pro-
duced on lands that are now of but little profit for sugar. The
addition to our agricultural resources of a cultivation which,
in all probability, is destined to take rank with that of coffee,
whilst not demanding so much labour in its picking and pre-
paration as the coffee-berry does, and which promises to be
easier than and quite as profitable as that of cacao, and yet
capable of greater extension than chocolate, because the kola
is a hardier plant and more adapted to a variety of soils and
climate than is the very delicate theobroma or chocolate, such
an addition to our resources, I may say, cannot be regarded
as unimportant; and I am confident that you will lend Pie
your attention even whilst I am occupied with some of the
"C drier details of the subject.
The earliest accounts of the kola tree are contained in
the reports of African travellers. The nut is known to have
been in use amongst the natives of Western Africa and the
Soudan for various purposes from early times. In Western
Africa it is used to render the half-putrid water of pools
> agreeable to drink by infusing into it some powdered kola-
nut, whereby it is cleared and rendered palatable and re-
freshing. The medicinal uses of kola seed by the natives of
-^Qca have not escaped the notice of travellers. It is said
cvi
to be in use there, very much as it is among the Creoles of
Jamaica, as a masticatory, being chewed for the sake of its
sustaining and tonic power. In Western Africa it is said to
have acquired a reputation for curing liver diseases, and a
variety of disorders which may be classed as dyspeptic.
The notices of this plant contained in accessible standard
botanical works are all very short and insufficient. Thus
Balfour, in his "Manual," a work specially prepared for
medical practitioners, and which is usually full in all that re-
lates to medicines, simply mentions it, saying, "The kola
mentioned by African travellers as being used to sweeten
water is the seed of Sterculia tomentosa or acuminata"
Khind's History of the Vegetable Kingdom, which is a com-
pendious work, and specially devoted to tropical fruits, does
not even mention the kola. In this dilemma as to botanical
authorities, I have gladly availed myself of the very kind
proposal of Mr. Faw.cett, the Director of the Public Gardens,
to prepare an abstract on the botanical characteristics of the
Kola tree. I am greatly indebted to him for the following
comprehensive notice:-
" Botanical Notice of the Kola Nut. The genus
Cola belongs to the order Sterculiace;e, which is very nearly
allied to the Mallow family, (Malvaceaj),
" Many of the properties of the two families are similar.
The mucilage, so abundant in the okra, one of the mallow
family, is found more or less throughout both families; in
the Sterculia family the best example is the bastard cedar
((Uiazuma tomentosa) from the pods of which the mucilage
obtained by infusion was formerly used instead of gelatine
or albumen in clarifying cane-juice.
*' The oily seeds of cotton in the Mallow family and of
chocolate in the Sterculia family may be cited as a general
characteristic, though one of the advantages of the kola-nut
is that it is not oily.
" The seeds of a tree (Sterculia Carthaginensis), which
grows well at Half-way Tree and Kingston, are eaten as nuts
in Brazil and Panama. The seeds of an Indian species
(Sterculia urens) are roasted and eaten, and also used to make
a kind of coffee; from the bark a gum somewhat like traga-
c an th is produced.
" The name kola nut is applied apparently to seeds of
several species belonging to the order, but those most j^nzed.
in the African markets are the produce of Cola acuminata,
11. Br., and its varieties.
" The kola tree varies much in the form and size of
its leaves and flowers, in the appearances of the pods and the
colour of the seeds. But the strangest variation occurs in
the number of the cotyledons. In the pea and bean, the
5
seed splits up into two distinct, equal halves, which lie flat
against one another; these are known in botanical language
as cotyledons. In the seed of the chocolate, the cotyledons
are not flat, but folded to some extent upon one another;
they are, however, two in number. All flowering plants are
divided into two classes according as they have one or two
cotyledons, palms, grasses, lilies, and orchids having only one,
almost all the rest bavino* two. Now it is stated on the an-
thority of Barter, Avho made extensive collections of plants
in Guinea, the native home of kola, that the number of coty-
ledons varies from two to five, even in seeds taken from
the same pod. In the few seeds which I have had the op-
portunity of examining in Jamaica, I have never found
more than two cotyledons, though they are sometimes much
distorted and apt to become split up in drying. Barter also says
that the seeds with two cotyledons are more highly prized
than the others.
" The pods of chocolate and kola differ in structure.
In chocolate a single flower produces a single pod with five
divisions; but in Kola the five divisions are always separate,
so that each flower produces five pods, each with five to
twelve seeds. A single flower may therefore yield as many
as fifty seeds.
" Kola is a native of Guinea, one of the hottest parts of
Africa, and was probably introduced into the West Indies
with the akee in slave-ships. It grows well at Bath, in the
Wag-Water Valley, Portland, and probably would succeed
wherever cacao grows, in a moderately rich, moist soil. It
is propagated by seeds, and will begin to bear after four
or five years. There are trees near the Botanic Garden,
Castlfton, which were planted over fifty years ago, still in
perfect health, and bearing fruit regularly. The trees should
be planted about 20 feet apart, which would give 108 trees
to the acre. The trees grow about 40 feet in height. Those
near Castleton produce from 500 to 800 pods each croj ,
If each pod contains on a moderate calculation 4 seeds, and
if we say 50 seeds to a quart, then a tree with GOO pods will
give 50 quarts of nuts twice a year, or 100 quarts per tree
per year. A quart of dry nuts will weigh a little over ljlb
L25lbs a tree. A tree in full bearing, and under careful
cultivation, would probably produce 150lbs of nuts a
year." From an abstract prepared by W. Fawcett, Esquire,
Director of the Public Gardens.*
* The Lecturer is also indebted to the, kind interest taken by Mr. Fawcett
in furnishing dried specimens of the leaves and flowers of Cola acuminata,
together with a number of growing seedlings in bamboo pots, which graced
the table. Specimens of kola-nuts from the Museum of the Institute, grown
in different parts of the Island, and specimens of dried pods illustrating the
period of maturity of the seeds, and other specimens to exhibit the cotyle-
dons, etc. , collected by the Author, were also shown and demonstrated.
e
So far T have met with no account of the introduction
of kola into Jamaica; but it was probably introduced into
this island during the era of the slave-trade; and it may not
be too far-fetched a supposition to imagine that t he seeds
may have b9en brought from Africa as the sole and valued
treasure of a slave. At any rate there is some evidence to
show that the old slaves, if not the introducers, were at least
the conservators of the plant in this its new home, where it is
now thoroughly naturalized. If we accept the view that it was
introduced into this island at the same time as the akee, we
have the authority of Bryan Edwards for fixing the date at
1778, when Dr. Thomas Clarke, the first Island Botanist, ob-
tained it on board a West African slave-ship. The akee was
again introduced into Jamaica, from St. Helena, by the cele-
brated Captain Bligh, in 1793, in the memorable voyage of
the Providence, winch brought the bread-fruit to Jamaica.
It is therefore probable that the kola tree has been natu-
ralized in this island for upwards of a century. My first ac-
quaintance with the kola was made soon after the time of
my arrival, some eleven years ago, when it was pointed out
to me as growing in that part of an abandoned sugar-estate
known as the "negro-house-piece/' where I found it flourish-
ing as a goodly solitary tree amid the cocoa-nut palms, the
star-apple trees, and old tamarinds, which had been planted
by the negroes in their yards, whilst their cottages and former
dwellings had entirely disappeared. These old negro-house
gardens are picturesque and interesting features of many a
sugar estate; and they furnish good hunting grounds to the
economic botanist, who is sure to find something of interest
amidst the variety of vegetable growth to be found there.
On the occupied estates such places now constitute the cocoa-
nut walks, the tamarind avenues, and orange-groves, left as a
legacy by the departed slaves. At that time, and in that
particular part of the island, the " Byssi" tree, as it is called
by the Creoles, was rather scarce and a rarity, but I subse-
quently found it growing in other much similar places, and
also planted in the house-grounds of the small settlers; but it
was not then grown to the extent that it now is, for of late
years there has been a considerable diffusion of the plant in
various parts of the island. This increased diffusion is partly
due to increased attention given to it, owing to publicity, and
partly to an increased appreciation of its virtues by the
country people, so that at length the fruit has come to make
its appearance in the Kingston markets, and is bought and
sold amongst tlie natives. It is used by them as a masticatory,
and an infusion is made of the grated nut and used as a
stomachic and carminative in colics, etc., taking the place of
ginger-tea in domestic medicine. So far as I can gather.
these are the only uses made of the kola-nut by the lower
classes; but certain of the higher classes, living in country
districts, have been made aware from wha 4 ] has passed in the
newspapers of late of the value of kola prepared as a beverage,
and have been in the habit of consuming it.
It was about five years ago that the kola-nut began more
particularly to attract attention, and notices of it began to
appear in the journals. In the early part of 1882, Messrs.
lieckel and Schlagdenhauffen, the latter formerly a Pro-
fessor of Chemistry at Strasburgh, published a notice of Kola,
which appeared in the ( 'omptes ttendua and other journals.
'I he Lancet of April 8th, 1882, published a summary of the
researches of these French chemists, which remains succinct
and comprehensive to the present time. The litera'ure of the
subject is so scanty, that it may be permissible to quote entire
the short article which appeared in the leading English
medical journal. It is as follows:
"The Kola or Gourou Nut. These seeds, called also
Ombeme nuts, are the produce of Stercuiia acuminata,
belonging to the Natural Order Sterculiacese, and are known
to us by the accounts of West African travellers, who state
that when chewed or sucked, they possess the power of ren-
dering the flavour of water, even if half-putrid, agreeable, and
they were believed to contain caffeine. They have recently
been made the subject of analysis by Messrs. Ed. lieckel and
Fv. Schlagdenhauffen, who have found that they do actually
contain more caffeine than the best samples of coffee that
could be procured, and that this base is altogether free and
uncombined not, therefore, as in the coffee-berry, united
with an organic base; secondly, that they contain a very ap-
preciable quantity of theobromine, which assists the action of
caffeine and possesses similar properties to that base; thirdly,
which is an important fact, that they contain a considerable
quantity of glucose, of which cacao presents no trace; fourthly,
that the quantity of starch present is three times greater than
that contained in theobroma, which explains its nutritive
value; fifthly, that there is but little fat, in which respect it
differs notably from cacao; and, lastly, th.it they contain a
special form of tannin, which approximates caffeo-tannic acid
in its composition, and red c dourin^ matter very similar to
that named by Payen cacao-red. The physiological exami-
nation of this substance has shown that its properties are
essentially due to the caffeine and theobromine it contains.
The seeds, it appears, have long been in use in Soudan and
Western^Africa, for the relief or cure of diseases of the in-
testine and liver, and especially in cases of atony of the di-
gestive tract, and also as a masticatory and tonic, like the areca
nuts, which are held in such high esteem by the natives of
3
India. Medically they may come to occupy a prominent
place by the side of coca and other anti-metabolic remedies,
to which tlu-y would probably prove superior in consequence
of the tannin they contain." LaHcety April 8, 1882, page 575.
About that time, and on seeing the above, I wrote a com-
munication to Mr. Morris, the Director of the Public Gardens,
on the subject, pointing out the occurrence of the tree in Ja-
maica, and how desirable it would be to extend its cultivation,
the substance of which letter he embodied in a note contained
in the Annual Report of the Public Gardens and Plantations
for 1882. The notice is as follows:
" Kola Nut. This tree, which has lately attracted con-
siderable attention, is common in many parts of the island
under the name of Byssi, and seeds can be obtained, in quan-
tity, if required for commercial purposes. Dr. Neish, of Port
Royal, to whom I am indebted for a note on this product,
remarks, l What enhances the value of kola-nuts at the
present time is the fact that citrate of caffeine, a medicine
now much employed for the relief of sea-sickness, megrim,
and other nervous complaints can be readily obtained from
these nuts, for the reason that the nuts contain more caffeine
than coffee-berries; and in the kola-nut the caffeine is in the
free or uncombined state. These nuts are likelv to take their
place in the market as furnishing a nutrient and stimulant
beverage. Rich in the active principle of coffee, containing
also a large proportion of theobromine, the active principle of
cacao, these nuts, in addition, contain three times the per-
centage of starch contained in chocolate; and, moreover, they
also contain less fat, so that, in addition to stimulant and nu-
tritive properties, there is the probability that a chocolate
prepared from them will more readily agree with delicate
stomachs.'
"The suggestion made by Dr. Neish that a chocolate
might be prepared from the kola-nut seems a very appro-
priate one, for both the cacao and kola belong to the same
natural order Sterculiacese, and the habits and characteristics
of the two are very similar. They both affect low, warm
situations, and in view of the probable demand for kola-nuts,
attention might very well be given to their cultivation."
From the Annual Report of the Public Gardens and Planta-
tions for the year ending 30th September, 1882. By D.
Morris, M.A., Director.
This notice having been copied into the leading newspa
pers of the island, gave an impetus to the dissemination of
the kola tree; and two years later, namely, in 1884, Mr.
Morris reported as follows:
" Kola Nut. ( Cola acuminata.) This interesting plant
is largely distributed in the island, and its cultivation is being
extended in the hope that ultimately kola-nuts may become
a recognized article of commerce. The tree is hardy and
easily established, and there would be no difficulty in sup-
plying large quantities of the nut every year. Locally the
nuts are used as a stomachic and tonic. They are said to
have effected very remarkable cures in dyspepsia and allied
disorders, and are used for this purpose in the same manner
as cacao or chocolate. It is prepared by grinding the dry
cured nut into a powder and mixing with boiline water, sugar
and milk. Some people use the kola-nut regularly at break-
fast in this manner, and consider it superior to everything
else of the kind. Seed nuts are to be obtained in the months
of June to September, and if intended for shipment should
be planted in soil. To cure the nuts for export they only
require to be taken out of the pods and subjected to careful
drying in the sun until quite firm and hard. The process,
however, requires to be thoroughly done, owing to the thick-
ness of the cotyledous, and to prevent mouldiness on the
voyage." -From the Report of the Public Gardens and
Plantations for the year ending 30th September, 1884. By
1>. Morris, M.A., F.L.S., Director.
Although the tree has become plentifully diffused
throughout the island, there is not as yet any export trade in
the product. It simply furnishes, as already stated, a petty
trade in the markets, and that which does not enter the
markets is consumed locally. There is, however, an imme-
diate prospect of the Jamaica article entering into commerce,
since a demand exists for kola-nuts both in France and
England, and some London merchants, it has been recently
mentioned, are taking steps to obtain a supply from Jamaica.
It has been stated that at present one manufacturer alone re-
ceives nearly the entire importation into England. Good
sound kola-nuts are now worth in the English market as
much as one shilling per pound. In 188G they were worth
70s. to 90s, per cwt.
To show that a demand exists for this article which is
but ill-supplied, I may mention thit at the close of 1886 an
attempt was made to impose upon the French market a spur-
ious article. The commerce in the genuine kola-nut is at
present limited to African sources, and it is not plentiful
because it is not cultivated. To meet the demand, a singular
and audacious attempt was made to foist upon the market an
inferior but much more easily obtained substitute. Thisstuff
fell into the hands of the same French chemists and physio-
logists who were the first to analyse kola-nut, and upon
wiiose analysis and statement of physiological properties, I
based my letter to Mr. Morris, recommending it as a beverage
10
material, the subject-matter of which Idler lias been already
quoted. These chemists, Messrs. Heckel and Schlagdenhauffen,
published their account of the fraud in a French medical
journal, Nbuveaux Remedes, in March aud April last (18x7,)
and in their description they consider the substitution lobe
an intentional adulteration, due to the increasing demand for
kola-nuts. Under the microscope the adulteration can be
detected by the smaller size of the polygonal starch grains,
which arc only half the size of those of the true kola-nut. In
the entire state the kernel is easily distinguished by the fact
that one of the cotyledons is hardly half the size of the other,
fitting into the substance of the larger 'one. and that the shape
of the seed is orbicular and flattened. Chemical analysis of
the false kola-nut shows it to be destitute of that which gives
the principal \\luc to the true product; that is to say, it con-
tains not a trace of caffeine, and therefore it is utterly value-
less to the chemical manufacturer. When I first read of the
introduction of a substitute for the kola-nut, I felt not a little
concern that it might injure the prospects of kola cultivation
in Jamaica, which had been advocated by Mr. Morris and
myself, but the denouement of the fraudulent attempt leaves
kola in its unique position as the easiest and best source of
caffeine. Thus, therefore, the medicinal value of the kola-
nut is securely established against this rival. The tree
bearing the false kola-nut is the Heritiera Uttoralis, belonging
to the same family as the kola, and described as common on
African river-banks, and in the East-Indian Islands and the
Phillipines. Had it proved a useful substitute, it could have
been abundantly supplied, and the new cultivation of our
naturalized kola trees would have had to encounter compe-
tition from the start.
It will be seen from what has preceded that there is still
an unsatisfied demand for the kola product, mostly for the
purpose of manufacturing into the salts of caffeine employed
in medicine. I shall hereafter have something to say about
the valuable properties of these salts when discussing the
therapeutical properties of the kola-nut; but at this stage I
wish simply to remark that these preparations of caffeine are
almost quite new, but that their use is extending among the
medical profession, and that, from their special value in par-
ticular cases, their use bids fair to become still more extended.
Caffeine and citrate of caffeine were only included in the last
edition of the British Pharmacopoeia, of September, 1885, as
official drugs, consequently their authoritative recognition
is quite recent, and as a medicine caffeine is simply at the
beginning of its useful career. To satisfy the requirements
of the manufacturing chemists, which are sure to increase,
would of itself justify an extended cultivation of the kola,
11
and would reward those who had the first enterprise in en-
ergetically taking it up.
But this is not all; the prospect justifying an extended
cultivation is still wider. This lecture affords an opportunity
to enlarge upon the suo-o-estion which I made in 1882, and
enables me to assert the eminent fitness of the kola-nut to
take its place along with coffee and chocolate as a die-
tetic beverage material. For this purpose the kola-nut has
distinctive qualities of its own. It may be said to blend the
qualities of coffee and chocolate together, but this in a man-
ner not to be effected by the mere mixing of the two sub-
stances. It is not to be regarded as a rival to coffee, nor to
chocolate, but as an additional and definite substance, form-
ing a third material in the group from which to select
a breakfast beverage. No doubt the introduction of the
new material uponvhe world's market will take time. It must
needs be so; but equally will time be required for the kola
to reach its place as an article of staple cultivation. There is
this to be said in this connexion, that the existing demand
for the article for medicinal purposes will serve to repay those
who first enter on the cultivation; and that, as kola coffee
comes into use as a beverage, the requirements of commerce
will have to be provided for by extended planting and culti-
vation.
In referring to the subject of dietetic beverages general-
ly, (which may now occupy our attention as introductory to
the special subject), it may be remarked that, besides tea,
coffee, and chocolate, some others have a limited or local
use, namely, paullinia or guarana, Paraguay tea or mate, and
kola-nut or byssi. The first named is used in Brazil, and
has been introduced into Paris, but failed to find favour
with the French on account of its bitterness and astringency;
it is, however, still used by them as a medicine for the re-
lief of migraine and neuralgia. The plant producing guarana
is the Paullinia Sorbilis, closely allied to the supple-jack of
of the Jamaican woods; the seed is the part used, which is
made into a dried paste and sold as guarana. Paraguay tea
is the leaf-product of the Ilex Paraguay ensis; it does not
enter into European commerce, but large quantities are ex-
ported from Paraguay for consumption in the adjoining
countries of South America. The kola-nut is just beginning
to be consumed in Jamaica, and its qualities are just coming
into public notice in England. What is remarkable about the
entire list is that they each contain as active principles a
crystallisable alkaloid, caffeiue, chemically identical in tea,
coffee, paullinia, Paraguay tea and kola-nut, and very
closely allied in chocolate. The crystallisable alkaloid of tea
used to be aud is still named t/ieine, but it is chemically iden-
12
tical with caffeine, both having the same analytical formula,
C 1 II'" N 1 O 8 and H < >. The formula for the active principle
of chocolate shows it to be simpler in constitution; this is
named theobromine, having the composition ( ' II s N 1 <) :
To those who have some knowledge of organic chemistry the
close relationship of caffeine to theobromine will be obvious,
1'ur if one atom of hydrogen in theobromine be substituted
by the compound radical methyl, the formula for which is
CH 8 * caffeine is formed theoretically as a substitution com
pound, and hence the chemical name for caffeine becomes
" niethyl-theobromine." Caffeine is contained in the follow-
ing proportions in the beverage substances named: in tea,
about 2 per cent.; in coffee, 0.8 to 1.3 per cent.; in prepared
guarana, 5 per cent.; in Paraguay tea, about 1.2 percent ;
and in kola-nut, 2J> per cent., which last will be noticed as a
very high percentage.
The alkaloids from all these sources have two properties
in common; they are stimulant and anti-metabolic; and thus
it is that the substances which contain them, when blended
with nutritious natter, are suitable for use as beverages in
the dietary. The term " anti-metabolic" will require explana-
tion. It is a word used to express the arrest of tissue-change
in muscle and brain, and neve and other tissues, which or-
dinarily goes on in our bodies in the course of our daily ex-
ercise. An anti-metabolic substance, then, is one which
checks exhaustion.
Tea furnishes a good example of this combined action
of stimulation with a check to the processes of wear and tear.
The stimulant and cheering qualities of tea are too well
known to require dwelling upon; its nutrient qualities, how-
ever, are slight, but it will be interesting to know that, the
younger the leaf is picked, the more stimulant and nutritious
it is. This is a matter of quite recent discovery; and as tea
as an article of cultivation has its claims for attention in
Jamaica, where we have land and climate extending from tin;
plains to the JJIue Mountains in every way suitable to it;
and as tea cultivation in this Island is one of the possibilities
of the near future, I present the fact to the public that in
due time it may bear fruit. It has been ascertained that the
young leaves of tea contain more of the active principle,
theme, than old leaves, that the chief nutritious element is a
mineral substance, phosphate of potassium, which is soluble
in tea infusion, and which of itself possesses restorative
qualities ; whilst as the leaves get older they contain more
woody fibre and astringent matter, and the soluble phosphate
of potassium undergoes a chemical change into phosphates of
lime and magnesia, which are insoluble and inert. There
can be no good tea unless it consists of the young leaf; and
Or
13
the earliest spring growth is that which makes the most
valuable eommodit v.
Coffee is a strong cerebral stimulant: it is also an anti-
metabolic of great power. As a dietetic beverage, it" we
omit the populous Chinese and restrict ourselves to European
nations and their colonists, it is of more universal consumption
among them than tea, though the consumption of tea by the
English, the Americans, and British colonists results in a
commerce which is truly immense Used a? a beverage,
coffee is stimulant to the nervous and tonic to the muscular
systems. It slowly strengthens the force of the circulation,
and it is by this mode of effect that it acts as a tonic and
diuretic. As a cerebral stimulant coffee beverage is resorted
to by students and authors, by orators and statesmen, and
by all who have to undergo intellectual labour, A cup of
strong coffee stimulates the brain and rouses it from torpor;
mental action is excited by the draught, and a How of ideas
is promoted. If taken late at night, it is apt to produce
sleeplessness by its exciting action on the brain; if, on the
contrary, it be taken in the morning, its effects extend to the
digestive system, and the powers of the stomach are assisted.
For instance, an eminent authority on dietetics recommends
that when the breakfast consists of a substantial meal, say
of meat, or even of oatmeal porridge, coffee should form a
part and be taken at the end of the meal, to prevent mental
torpor from the effects of the food and to assist digestion.
This recommendation could now with propriety be made to in-
clude kola.
The stimulant powers of coffee depend upon a volatile
oil as well as on the caffeine which it contains. The volatile
oil has been named " caffeone," and it is this which gives the
peculiar and well-known delicious aroma which coffee possess-
es. To produce the aromatic effect in the fullest, coffee-ber-
ries should be selected freshly, but not too highly, roasted,
and the coffee should be infused merely with boiling water,
but should not be boiled. To prepare coffee for its sustaining
properties, which it possesses in a remarkable degree, it be-
comes an object to extract all the caffeine and all the soluble
nutritious matter, and this is most effectually done by boil-
ing.
Some years ago, a French authority, M. de Gasparin,
communicated to the Academy of Sciences, in Paris, a paper
on the value of coffee in the dietary, in which he illustrated
the sustaining powers of boiled coffee by referring to the ex-
traordinary feats of labour accomplished by the Belgian
miners at Charleroi, on a diet which were it not for the coffee
they consumed would be meagre. On (me occasion some
French miners went to work in the mines in Belgium, but,
II
according to M. de Gasparin, they could not keep u]> with the
Belgian miners in their daily work, though they were much
more fully fed, and they had to give up labour m the mines
of Charleroi. The diet of the French workmen contained
from live to six and a half ounces of nitrogen, while that of
the miners of Charleroi contained less than half an ounce of
nitrogen: these amounts of nitrogen are held to represent
the amount of flesh-forming substances in the respective diets.
But the Belgian miners consumed daily in divided portions,
morning, noon, and night, two quarts of boiled coffee made
from one ounce of ground coifee. After summing up the
constituents of their slender diet, M, de Gasparin added
" To coifee alone can we ascribe the power of satisfying: them-
selves with a diet which children would not bear, and its
action is not that of a nutritive substance, for the analysis
shows that it does not compose more than a thirty-fifth of the
nutritive properties of the food. Coffee, therefore, has other
properties, which are very important. Does it aid the di-
gestive functions? Does it produce a more complete assimi-
lation? or does it, perhaps, retard the nutrition of the organs,
which then do not require so great a consumption of mate-
rials for repair or maintenance ? In this case coffee does not
nourish, but prevents denutrition."
The sustaining power of coffee thus attributed by the
Count de Gasparin to the prevention of denutrition has been
accepted by physiologists and authors on pharmacognosy, and.
the term anti-metabolic has come into use to express this
check to the processes of waste. It will have a bearing on
the immediate subject if reference be made here to coca,
which is the leaf of the JErythroxylon coca, used by the Pe-
ruvian and Bolivian mountaineers as a masticatory for the
purpose of sustaining them during the fatigue of mountain
climbing. Very full accounts of this agent will be found in
Mr. Markham's Travels in Peru in search of cinchona plants.
It is most remarkable as a preventer of denutrition, and its
alkaloid, cocaine, is now well known as a local anaesthetic
and tonic. The kola-nut, it will be found, bears a strong
analogy to coca.
The knowledge which has been gained by long expe-
rience of the uses and properties of coffee has a strong in-
terest for us at the present moment, as shedding a light on
the properties and. qualities of kola as a beverage; for, rea-
soning by analogy from what is known of the constituents of
the two substances, there can be little doubt that what is true
of coffee will in the main be found to be true of kola, It
will be profitable, therefore, to consider coffee somewhat fully.
Very likely it may be said that one need not have
travelled so far as Belgium or Paris for an illustration of the
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15
sustaining powers of coffee; and that here, in Jamaica, an
illustration of a most cogent kind could be found in the habits
of planters, overseers, and others, who do a surprising amount
of physical exertion during the early hours of the morning
and up to the middle of the forenoon, sustained solely by the
invigorating effects of a cup of " morning coffee." "This
Jamaican practice of drinking a cup of strong coffee early in the
morning is a commendable one, though undoubtedly it would
be better on physiological grounds to partake of a modicum
of light nutritious food at the same time. It has been fully
established that coffee exerts an influence antagonistic to
malaria, and it is not to be doubted that morning coffee is
useful in this respect, as warding off the attacks of paludal
fevers. Trousseau, the great French authority on Thera-
peutics, cites the evidence of one of his countrymen travelling
in Greece, that the inhabitants of the Morea infallibly cut
short their intermittent fevers with a mixture of coffee and
lemon-juice thus suggesting in effect that citrate of caffeine
might be used for the same purpose. It is desirable, I think,
that planters, overseers, and others who are exposed to mala-
rial influences, should give an equal trial to " morning kola"
as a prophylactic against malaria, and to sustain them in their
physical exertions. Caffeine is an an antiseptic like quinine.
Another property of coffee, not generally known, is that
it acts as a local anaesthetic. It is an obtunder of pain mani-
fested in the sensory nerves, and it blunts the special sense
of taste. From a few limited experiments with kola, I am
inclined to the belief that it agrees with coffee in this respect.
It is well enough known that if quinine be suspended in
strong coffee it may be taken with only a slight perception
of the taste; but it may not be so well known that such a
nauseous substance as epsom salts, after being boiled in strong
coffee, may be taken without inconvenience. There is some
evidence to show that this property of obtundmg nervous
perception at the periphery resides in the alkaloid caffeine.
For example, Mr. Leeds, a dentist, of Xew York, has pub-
lished a statement that he has used as a pain obtunder a solu-
tion of twenty grains of caffeine in two ounces of a mixture
of alcohol and watei, with better results when operating upon
sensitive teeth than even with cocaine. This anaesthetic
property of caffeine is likely to have extended uses. Besides
cocaine there are very few drugs possessing such a power.
Bromide of potassium is anaesthetic to the throat, cocaine
suspends the action of sensory nerves, and caffeine dulls the
sense of tastb. Another taste-destroyer has lately been an-
nounced from India in the leaves of the Gymnema sylvestre,
which, on being masticated, are alleged to destroy the sweet-
ness of sugar, making it feel like sand in the mouth, and to
10
deprive smokers from the enjoyment of a cigar; but the in-
terest attached bo this novelty attests the rarity of such pro-
pert Lea among drugs.
Caffeine lias made its principal mark in modern medicine
as a cardiac tonic and diuretic, applicable in advanced cases
of dropsy depending on structural defects of the heart.
Caffeine was discovered and isolated from coffee by Runzi as
early as 1819, and was fully described by Pelletier, the dis-
coverer of quinine, in 1821, and was studied by many others
in the interval; but it was left to Professor Gubler, of Paris,
and to Dr. Sansom, of London, and some other English phy-
sicians to bring out, in our own day, its great value as a
cardiac tonic. By strengthening the force of the heart, the
general blood-pressure is increased, the kidneys are impelled
into action, and the dropsies of advanced heart-disease
disappear. The surprising effects following the judicious use _ t
of caffeine, as published by leading physicians, would of
themselves be a strong testimony to show how rapidly pro-
gressive modern medicine has become.
Citrate of caffeine was first principally used in a nervous
disease known a? sick-headache, megrim or migraine. For
slight attacks of this disorder coffee itself, and kola beve-
rage also, as I am able to state, can be used with advantage.
Before the introduction of caffeine, coffee was in vogue for
this purpose, and is tints referred to by Trousseau: " Slight
migraines almost always yield to it. Rationalist physicians
would establish many and capital distinctions, but domestic
empiricism does better than the severest science, and coffee
is able to cure almost all headaches, at least such as are not
tiie prelude to or the symptom of a fever, or an acute disease."
Caffeine is known to exert a stimulating action upon the
liver, and to promote the secretion of bile. This fact may be
taken into account as explanatory of the reputation of kola-
nut in Western Africa in the cure of liver diseases, while to
its combined nervo-stimulant, anaesthetic and tonic effects may
also be ascribed the success of kola in Africa when employed
for the relief of dyspeptic and intestinal disorders. Sufficient
proof has accumulated in Jamaica to establish the value of
kola as an anti-dyspeptic. Between four and five years ago
a gentleman was in correspondence with me on the subject of
kola beverage, and he was induced to try it, not by my special
recommendation, but by his own desire. I simply pointed
out how it might be used. He afterwards reported himself
as completely cured by the use of the byssi, Mr. Morris's
testimony on this point, given as far back as 1884, is suMi- >
ciently positive and convincing. Since the product lias come
to be sold in the public markets, its use has become more
general, and I have heard a good deal of approval of it. In
17
another case, of which I had knowledge, it proved most
efficacious in warding off and cutting short attacks of asthma.
1 would not hesitate to recommend the kola beverage as
being particularly suited to dyspeptics and to asthmatics. In
asthma it may be given both in the pure nervous forms and
in cardiac asthma, as an adjuvant to other medicinal treat-
ment. As ordinary " biliousness" is but a form of stomach
derangement, the use of kola beverage is likely to prove of
service to those who are subject to this disorder, by pre-
venting or diminishing the severity of the attacks.
Kola beverage, or kola-coffee, may be prepared by
selecting the perfectly sound dried nut and roasting it. It
may be highly roasted without losing much caffeine, for re-
cent experiments by Dr. Paul, of London, have shown that
there is very little loss of caffeine in roasting coffee unless
the process be carried to an extreme. Uniformity in the
- size of the seed selected is an object in roasting kola-nut,
just as it is in the case of roasting coffee-berries. Unlike
coffee, kola -nut is destitute of a fine aroma, and the roasted
and ground product is devoid of odour, unless it be a faint
smell, which one of my friends has likened to the odour of
spigelia, and another called it a "drug-like" odour; this how-
ever, soon passes off, and the substance is left without smell.
The ground kola-coffee must be used in smaller quantity
than coffee, otherwise it proves too strong a cerebral stimu-
lant. The recognised standard for the strength of coffee is
that advocated by Dr. Parkes in his work on Hygiene; a
cup of coffee being made from half an ounce of coffee in-
fused with about three ounces of boiling water; this consti-
tutes strong or black coffee, and may be diluted with an
equal quantity of milk to constitute cafe-au-lait. Kola-
coffee made about half or even one-third this strength is
quite a sufficient stimulant as a morning beverage. Tastes,
however, will always vary, and there is room for a choice of
strength according to preference. Persons unaccustomed to
it should always remember its high stimulant power on the
brain, and that it is not always suitable to be taken late at
night, particularly if it be made strong. My first indulgence
in a cup of kola-coffee late in the evening cost me a night of
wakefulness, and imparted an active and rapidly changing
flow of ideas, with an inclination to walking about and a
readiness for exertion rather than a disposition to repose.
It quite exceeded my experiences of midnight coffee in
student days. I had simply taken my kola too strong, too
i much of it, and too late.
Prepared in the way I have indicated, by infusion or by
boiling, (for both these methods are applicable in the case of
kola-coffee) the beverage has a rich, dark brown appear-
18
Mice, and looks like chooolate, but tastes much more like
coffee. It is not oily on the surface, and there is little
or no sediment. Kola, indeed, excels both coffee and choco-
late in solubility, for it yields up its properties to cold watery
infusions, to hot infusions, and to decoctions. The starchy
matters it contains impart smoothness and a slight thickness
to the decoction, but starch is not taken up by the cold in-
fusion. The decoction, or preparation by boiling, must be
held to be the most nutritious form and also the most econo-
mical. Milk and sugar are acceptable and even necessary
additions, which of course add to its nutritive power.
Made in this form, kola-coffee is quite as stimulant as
coffee, and is more so if made of the same weight. For
nutritiveness it may be compared to chocolate, which, how-
ever, it much surpasses; but the absence of oily globules,
which float on the surface of strong chocolate, makes the
kola beverage more acceptable to fastidious stomachs. The
starch, combined as it is with a little cocoa-butter or fat, and
blended as it is with another form of starch that has been
converted into the sugar of glucose, is certainly extremely
bland and highly digestible; and the prospects are that
this beverage, when made of limited strength, will be found
suitable to the most delicate invalids. It is admirably ad-
apted to the stage of gastric irritability in all fevers, to the
irritable stomach in delirium tremens, and to the first efforts
of the stomach on recovering from prolonged nausea. In
nerve-exhaustion it promises to become one of the best restor-
atives. In the brain-torpor consequent on narcotic poisoning,
as by opium, a stimulant dose of kola decoction is likely to
prove an effective antidote.
7 he kola-nut is so very soluble that it may readily be
prepared into medicated wines, medicinal tinctures, and
fluid extracts, and also into chocolate, but the latter of
course involves more trouble than preparing it as coffee.
Prepared as a paste after the manner of chocolate, we have,
however, a right to call it chocolate, for though it tastes of
coffee, it nevertheless contains theobromine, starch, and a
little cocoa-fat,which are the leading constituents of chocolate.
The maker should introduce additional pure cocoa-butter,
also aroraatics, such as nutmeg, mace, cassia, or cinnamon
and cloves, to suit the tast \ It is to be expected that when
the preparation of chocolate from kola becomes an object
w T ith manufacturers, great improvements will ensue as a
result of their skill and experience. Kola-nut is also likely to
come into use amongst grocers as a means for fortifying
weak or adulterated coffees.
Mr. Thomas Christy, of London, recently exhibited at
the Manchester Royal Jubilee Exhibition a chocolate-paste
-
19
made from the kola-nut, concerning which a most favourable
account has been given of its dietetic and medicinal properties.
It is thus described in an English periodical: "Although
the 'paste' resembles very much ordinary eocoa-paste, it is im-
portant to remember that it is prepared from kola-nut with-
out any foreign admixture, and contains at least two per cent,
of caffeine. It is said to be five times stronger than cocoa,
and has been used as a therapeutic agent by Dr. A. L. Gihon,
Medical Director to the United States Navy, with verv ex-
cellent results, the mode of administration being similar to
that of chocolate, viz., by mixing 10 to 15 grains with sugar,
dissolving in boiling water and flavouring with a little vanilla
essence. It is said also to be of great service in counter-
acting the ill-effects of ' drink,' devotees not being able to
return to their favourite intoxicating beverage for some days
without feeling nausea."
Mr. Christy sells his "kola-chocolate" at the price of
four shillings per pound, but as it is five times the strength
of cocoa, the price as compared with cocoa or chocolate may
be held to be ninepence. The strength and compactness of
such a preparation would admirably fit it to form part of
army and navy supplies. In a recent communication growing
out of a controversy respecting Sir Augustus Adderley's
paper on West Indian exhibits at the Colonial and Indian
Exhibition, read at the Society of Arts, Mr. Christy points
out that its regular use is insured, owing to the favourable
results attending its employment in the hospitals, and states
that the paste has been ordered in quantity for army food by
three European governments.
All this is confirmatory of the value of the kola-nut, and
goes to show, what was stated at the outset, that there is an
immediate and a prospective demand for the kola product of
a most encouraging nature; and I may now turn your attention
to the question of the extended cultivation of this highly
useful tree.
The Kola tree seems to thrive best in hot, low and moist
situations, but may be grown nt all elevations not exceeding
900 feet. It would appear to do well in a strong clayey soil.
It is, however, a hardy tree, and adapts itself to a wide range
both of soil and climate. It is capable of cultivation in all
hot and seasonable districts of the island having a rainfall of
about 80 inches; and wherever bananas are grown kolas may
be reared. There are many thousands of acres in various
parishes as yet unoccupied, save by "ruinate," which are
capable of being put into permanent plantations of kola. On
certain estates sugar-cane has had to give place to bananas as
a more profitable crop, and under such circumstances the
kola plant may be blended with the new cultivation to great
20
and permanent profit, In a good soil and with sufficient
moisture, the kola tree grows rapidly and stoutly; but five or
six years are required for it lo come into bearing, and at ten
years old it is giving a full crop, estimated at L20 pounds
annually, such a tree giving a return at presenl prices of from
l' l to 66 per annum. It may be started from seeds obtained
fresh from the tree, and sown in nursery-beds or bamboo pots,
the plants to be afterwards set out when they have attained
one or two years' growth, or one- and two-year old plants may
be obtained from the Public Gardens. The season for ob-
taining fresh seeds, it will be remembered, expires with the
month of September, so that planters desirous of establishing
their own nurseries this season should piocure seeds without
loss of time. As regards the habit of the tree, its coming into
bearing, the yield of fruit, etc, I may say that my inquiries
on these points when addressed to Creole peasants (who almost
alone possess practical knowledge regarding the byssi) have
so often been answered by comparing it to th^ orange tree
that it may not be amiss to accept the orange tree a<* a standard
of comparison. English writers, however, have likened the
habit of the tree to that of the chestnut. Like the orange
tree, it has a habit of continuous flowering when in a climate
that is marked by frequent showers, thus prolonging the
season of fruiting. In good soils the kola certainly is a
fruitful bearer, almost comparable to the orange in this respect,
while, from all that is known, it does not appear to be so ex-
hausting to the soil as either the coffee shrub or the orange
tree. A plantation of kola, therefore, must be held to be of
very permanent durability and value. Whilst waiting for the
kola tree to come into bearing, the planter will have to make
a profit out of the ground by some subsidiary crop, the best
being bananas, as these will also serve to shelter the young
plants, besides being the most profitable of any catch-crop.
Wherever bananas are now occupying the ground, prepara-
tions can at once be made for a more permanent crop by
planting kola seeds amongst them, for by the time the
bananas have begun to fail by reason of the small and un-
marketable size of the fruit, the young kola trees will be
growing up, and oan be left to hold the ground permanently.
In good rich soil the bananas might be planted ten, eleven, or
twelve feet apart, with a kola at every second banana, in
the direction of the lines; a plot of twenty feet square would
then enclose nine bananas with four kola plants at the corn-
ers, thus leaving them twenty to twenty four feet apart. In
very sheltered situations a variation on this plan might be
made by omitting the bananas in the centres of the squares,
so as to give the trees more light and air. A gradual
thinning out of the bananas would be made as the kolas ac-
'
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21
quired increased growth. After the bananas are dispensed
with and the field is made clean, the best catch-crops will be
leguminous plants, such as "quick-increase" peas, or the like,
the seeds of which may be taken as profit while the stalks
are used as a mulching to the kolas, or turned in green as a
manure. Although the kola tree will no doubt bear a good
deal of neglect, it will be sure to repay careful attention to
cultivation by stirring and manuring the soil; the growth of
catch-crops thus securing an important end. It will be pos-
sible by cultivating bananas and intervening crops, to estab-
lish a kola plantation almost free of cost, which when es-
tablished could be maintained at very little expense, and
would be sure to bring in very profitable returns.
The kola harvest in Jamaica is from June to September,
with occasional fruits at other seasons. As soon as the pods
begin to open, the seeds are mature, and the fruit may then
be picked. The seed is removed from the pods, and the
soft yellow seed-coveriug or episperm is removed from the
seed. There are two methods of drying in vogue that by
drying in the shade, and that by drying in the sun. The
former method is thought to give a finer appearance and a
heavier yield; the latter is believed to be the better prepara-
tion for export. The kola-nut is a seed of very complex
composition; and one of its constituents, glucose, has a strong
attraction for water, and soon gives rise to mouldiness when
exposed to damp. In a hot, moist atmosphere, like the hold
of a steamer, these nuts are prone to undergo fermentation;
on this account they require to be thoroughly dried in the
sun until they are perfectly cured. Being of comparatively
large size, they require long drying, and to withstand a
sea-voyage they require careful packing. The price to be
realized depends greatly or entirely on soundness on arrival,
and the greatest pains should be taken to secure this end.
The nuts should be packed in barrels or tierces with the
same care that is given to our high-mountain coffee. As the
trade in this article opens up with the United States, as it
is sure soon to do the planters and shippers in this island
will gain by the shorter voyage to America, for the risk of
shipments spoiling during transit will thereby be lessened.
It is also a point worthy of consideration w r hether kola-coffee
and kola-chocolate might not advantageously be prepared
in the island for export.
Gentlemen, in bringing these remarks to a close, I wish
to present you with material for reflection as an outcome of
the facts developed in the course of the lecture, that this
island has among its possible and actual resources the pro-
duction of the four leading beverage substances of commerce
tea, coffee, chocolate and kola; and that such a combination
22
of resources (with many others in addition) could <mly pos-
sibly occur in a highly favoured tropical and mountainous
island like our own Jamaica.
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