Manuscript of great interest for the history of Colombian science from the hand of one of the greatest exponents of Colombian science in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Rafael Zerda Bayón (Bogotá ¿1844?- 1920) was one of the most important Colombian scientists of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He studied anatomy, chemistry, physiology and accounting at the Colegio del Rosario, always standing out among the rest of the students. Zerda showed a special interest in chemistry, a subject in which he was an outstanding student, winning several prizes for his performance.
After being in charge of chemistry, physics and botany classes at the University of Cauca in Popayán, around 1882 Zerda settled in Bogotá where he focused on research. In this period he devised or adapted some devices and developed several novel products, as he was aware of the technical and scientific advances of the time.
The fruit of Rafael Zerda’s work as an inventor is this manuscript where the procedure to manufacture an aromatic coffee extract that he called “Flor de Café” (Coffee Flower) is recorded. This manuscript is in all probability the original that Zerda took to patent since it is recorded in the “Diario Oficial” of April 12, 1905 (12325) a request that reads as follows:
“Application for a 10-year privilege to use, sell or exploit fluid or solid aromatic extract of coffee whose name will be Flor del Café, containing only the useful and aromatic part of the coffee beans.”
Throughout the manuscript, the inventor from Bogota describes the process for the fabrication and obtaining of the aromatic extract of coffee and accompanies his text with 5 original drawings on tracing paper detailing the digesting apparatus and the coffee roasting apparatus with a legend of all the elements of which it was composed.
It is undoubtedly a manuscript of great interest for the history of Colombian science from the hand of one of the greatest exponents of Colombian science in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Signed and dated by the author.
It is preserved in loose sheets for better preservation.
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