A number of substitutes for coffee have been proposed. Many of these have little claim to be entitled substitutes, since they simply furnish a decoction more or less bitter and of a coffee color.

Substitutes, no matter how nutritious, should never be sold in mixtures with genuine coffee, except in properly labeled packages. The package should be distinctly branded in such a way as to avoid misleading the purchaser and should indicate from what raw material the substitute has been prepared.

Besides chicory, Mogdad, and Mussaenda coffee, acorns, tigs, legumi-nous seeds, and cereals have been employed as coffee substitutes.

In this connection it maybe well to call attention to the fact that the bogus coffee, known in Germany as "Kunst Kaffee," is largely imported into this country. That this product is a fraud is evident from the fact that it is molded in imitation of genuine coffee and in mixtures is sold as such.

Kornauth 1 examined chicory and figs, and considers them of consid erable nutritive value for the poorer classes.

1 Rev. Internat. Scient.et. Pop. des Falsiflocatians dee Decivee's Aliment, 3. 8; Cen tralbl. 1890, 605.

1 The fruit of the wax palm (Corypha cerifera L., or Copernicia ceri fera, Mart.), which yields carnauba wax, is used in Brazil for the preparation of a coffee substitute, for which purpose it is roasted in the usual way. Chemical investigation of samples of this fruit procured from Brazil, by Konig, gave:-

Raw.

Roasted.

Per cent.

Per cent.

Water..........................................

9.37

3.76

Raw protein....................................

6.54

6.99

Pure protein............................................................

5.82

6.14

Fat (ether extract)..............................

10.57

14.06

Sugar and dextrine.............................

1.67

1.25

Starch ..........................................

2.47

5.46

Non-nitrogenous extract matter................

23.01

27.79

Fiber.......................................................................

44.31

38.45

Ash............................................

2.06

2. 24

Mean K20......................................

.63

.69

Mean CaO..............................................................

.42

.45

Mean P2O5......................................

.41

,43

Water soluble matter...........................

12.17

13.50

In the raw state the fruits have a stony consistency. Starch could not be detected and, if present, was in very slight quantity. The sub stance presented in the table as starch was obtained by treating the mass, after extraction with water, with diastase, then heating three hours in a Soxhlet pressure steam oven. The mixture was then filtered, the filtrate inverted with HCL and precipitated with Fehling's solution. The fat from the fruit has apparently a different constitution from the wax from leaves (carnauba wax).

Only a slight amount of water soluble substances are found in the roasted fruit, as is the case with acorns.