sees on every side the most enchanting pictures. everywhere the image of happiness! "If the succession of our ideas be the real measure of life, the rapidity with which they then recur to the memory, and the vigour with which the mind runs over the extended chain of them, would induce a belief that in the two hours of delicious calm that succeeds the bath one has lived a number of years!" [This paper is printed from the English edition of Rumford's Essays, Vol. III., pp. 419-453.] OF THE EXCELLENT QUALITIES OF COFFEE. TH HE use of science is so to explain the operations which take place in the practice of the arts, and to discover the means of improving them; and there is no process, however simple it may appear to be, that does not afford an ample field for curious and interesting investigation. As those domestic arts and elegant refinements which the progress of industry and the increase of wealth and knowledge introduce in society contribute to the comfort and happiness of great numbers of respectable individuals, their improvement must be interesting to all those who take pleaure in contemplating the prosperity of mankind and in contributing to their innocent enjoyments. Among the numerous luxuries of the table unknown to our forefathers, which have been imported into Europe in modern times, coffee may be considered as one of the most valuable. Its taste is very agreeable, and its flavour uncommonly so; but its principal excellence depends on its salubrity and on its exhilarating quality. It excites cheerfulness without intoxication, and the pleasing flow of spirits which it occasions lasts many hours, and is never followed by sadness, languor, or debility. |