A First Taxonomic Description of Coffee (1713)

JF Ptak Science Books   Quick Post

The beneficial effects of "coffee" had been  known in Ethiopia, and Arabia, and Persia, and Syria, and Turkey, long before it was used and enjoyed in the West. where coffee didn't make a strong appearance until the 17th century.  Evidently, though it took nearly another hundred years for the first taxonomic description to appear. That was the work of  Antoine de Jussieu (1686-1750) , and his effort appeared tucked away in a short article "Histoire du Cafe"in the scientific journal Memoires de l'Academie des Sciences in 1713. 

The Jussieu is a coffee incunable in the Western world. It was described as "The first recorded taxonomic description of coffee...described a coffee plant from the botanical garden of Amsterdam as “Jasminum arabicanum, lauri folio, cujus femen apudnos coffee decir” in 1713 (“Arab jasmine, with laurel type leaves, the beans of which we can call coffee”)--(Wintgens, 2009, quoted by Caas Brazil, Coffee Taxonomy.) And although there isn't an exact reference to the place of publication from what I can determine this must be the source--the article also uses a quote from the paper that is directly from this paper, which I reproduce above.  The Jussieu paper was also described as  "The first botanical description of a coffee tree, under the nam Jasminum arabicanum...made in 1713 by A. de Jussieu, who studied a single plant originating from the botanic garden of Amsterdam." found in Charrier, A.; Berthaud, J.  "Botanical Classification of Coffee", (1985), found in Clifford, M. H.; Wilson, K. C. Coffee: Botany, Biochemistry and Production of Beans and Beverage, AVI Publishing, p. 14. A wiki article on Jussieu references this paper but in a 1739 Paris edition of the 1713.  The 11-page article is also illustrated by an engraving of the coffee tree:

Notes:

1. My copy is actually printed in 1717 in Amsterdam, whereas the first publication of teh article appeared in a Paris edition two years earlier, in 1715. The journal and particulars: Histoire de l' Academie Royale des Sciences. Annee M. DCCXIII. Avec le memoires de mathematique & de physique, pour la meme annee. Tires des registres de cette academie. Printed in Amsterdam by Pierre Coup, 1717, 165x95mm,  [Histoire de l' Academie Royale des Sciences] (xii), 108pp, and [Memoires de mathematique & de physique] 490pp, plus 10  folding engraved plates. This is the Amsterdam edition, appearing two years after the Paris edition of 1715--I have also seen references to a later Paris edition of 1733;  also, John Martyn translated this for an English volume published in 1747.

Also included in this volume:

Rene Antoine Ferchau Reaumur (1683-1757) presenting Francesco Bianchini (1662-1729, and Fellow of the  Royal Society in 1713 and proposed by Issac Newton), “Description d'une Machine portative, propre à soûtenir des Verres de très-grands Foyers”, (with two folding plates), which to my eye looks like an apparatus to support an aerial telescope. 

Reaumur, “Expériences & Réflexions sur la prodigieuse ductilité de diverses Matiéres”,

Littre, “Observations sur une espece d'Enflûre appellée Emphyseme”; pp 5-17;

Jacques Cassini (1677-1756), “Réflexions sur de nouvelles Observations du Flux & du Reflux de la Mer, faites au port de Brest dans l'année 1712'; pp 17-41;

Cassini, “De la Figure de la Terre”, pp 250-267;

Giacomo Maraldi Often paired with Cassini in collaborative work)," Du Retour de l'Étoile changeante, qui est dans la Constellation du Cygne", Pp 61-69;

Lemery, “Examen de la maniére dont le Fer opére sur les liqueurs de notre Corps, & dont il doit être préparé pour servir utilement dans la Pratique de la Médecine”, pp 41-61;

Philippe de la Hire (1640-1718, astronomy, math, geodesy), “Sur la hauteur de l'Atmosphere”, pp 71-78;

Mery, “Observations sur différentes Maladies”, pp 146-162;

Pierre Varignon (1654-1722, “mathematics, mechanics. It is due to Lagrange that Varignon’s name gained recognition in the teaching of mechanics in France in the nineteenth century...”--DSB),  “Suite des Réflexions qui se trouvent dans le Mémoire du 28 Juin 1712. sur les Développées, & sur les Courbes résultantes du Développement de celles-là”, pp 162-225;

 

 

Michel Rolle (1652-1719), “Remarques sur un Paradoxe des Effections Géométriques”,

Imbert, “Histoire d'un Assoupissement extraordinaire”

Saveur, “Rapport des Sons des Cordes d'Instruments de Musique aux Fléches des Cordes; Et nouvelle détermination des Sons fixes”.