THE CHEMISTRY OF COFFEE AND TEA. 363 



it can be made (simply by action of nitrous acid) from guanine, which 

 is abundant enough in guano. Guanine is found here and there in 

 animal excrementitious material, is produced by spiders, and occurs 

 in the pancreatic gland of the horse, and in organs of the salmon. 

 The extensive group of bodies related to xanthine and theine have 

 been found a very rich field of chemical research. Theine itself is a 

 body of a very simply distinctive chemical structure, from which nu- 

 merous derivatives are readily constructed. Hitherto, however, the 

 chemical synthesis of theine from inorganic elements fails by lack of 

 some short link whereby to form uric acid from any one of its own 

 derivatives, nearly all which can be artificially formed. But the change 

 of guanine into theine is easily accomplished. It is perfectly practica- 

 ble to bring guano material to the laboratory, and send away the same 

 atomic elements transformed into the snow-white, silky crystals of 

 theine. Given only a sufficient demand for the pure stimulant prin- 

 ciple of tea and coffee, and a market value high enough above the cost 

 of its vegetable sources, and it might then safely be predicted that not 

 many months would elapse before companies with thousands of capital 

 stock would engage successfully in the chemical manufacture of theine 

 from guano. Then, very likely, rival companies would establish the 

 claim to manufacture a still purer article from certain of the waste 

 substances of the world articles more accessible than guano. 



But it must not be forgotten that theobromine, just mentioned as an 

 intermediate body in the chemical transmutation of guanine into the- 

 ine, is itself an alkaloid of well-known vegetable origin. It has been 

 found in only one plant (the Theobroma cacao), a beautiful evergreen 

 tree of Mexican nativity, extensively cultivated in South America, 

 growing twenty to thirty feet high, bearing small flowers in clusters 

 on the large branches, and yielding fruit in a purple-yellow pod, seven 

 or eight inches long, each holding twenty to forty seeds the " cocoa- 

 beans " of commerce. From these are prepared all the forms of choc- 

 olate, " cocoa," and " soluble cocoa," now in use over the world as a 

 beverage, a competitor for the favor accorded to the more nearly equal 

 claims of coffee and tea. At the discovery of Mexico and Peru, the 

 Spaniards found chocolate from time beyond record an habitual bev- 

 erage, and the chocolate-tree in extensive cultivation, in both coun- 

 tries. 



The chemist has yet to find, if he can, a plant on the globe con- 

 taining the alkaloid theine, or its chemical associate, theobromine, 

 that has not been, by some of the races of men in some of the ages 

 of the world, brought into use as a refreshing beverage, or adjunct 

 to food, prized for adding cheerfulness to nourishment, and giving 

 solace to fatigue. However the peoples of the world while wholly 

 unconscious of the identities of chemical science have been guided 

 in their search over forest and field for a herb to infuse, in a bever- 

 age that should cheer but not inebriate, it is certain that no hint 



