11 



and would reward those who had the first enterprise in en- 

 ergetically taking it up. 



But this is not all; the prospect justifying an extended 

 cultivation is still wider. This lecture affords an opportunity 

 to enlarge upon the suo-o-estion which I made in 1882, and 

 enables me to assert the eminent fitness of the kola-nut to 

 take its place along with coffee and chocolate as a die- 

 tetic beverage material. For this purpose the kola-nut has 

 distinctive qualities of its own. It may be said to blend the 

 qualities of coffee and chocolate together, but this in a man- 

 ner not to be effected by the mere mixing of the two sub- 

 stances. It is not to be regarded as a rival to coffee, nor to 

 chocolate, but as an additional and definite substance, form- 

 ing a third material in the group from which to select 

 a breakfast beverage. No doubt the introduction of the 

 new material uponvhe world's market will take time. It must 

 needs be so; but equally will time be required for the kola 

 to reach its place as an article of staple cultivation. There is 

 this to be said in this connexion, that the existing demand 

 for the article for medicinal purposes will serve to repay those 

 who first enter on the cultivation; and that, as kola coffee 

 comes into use as a beverage, the requirements of commerce 

 will have to be provided for by extended planting and culti- 

 vation. 



In referring to the subject of dietetic beverages general- 

 ly, (which may now occupy our attention as introductory to 

 the special subject), it may be remarked that, besides tea, 

 coffee, and chocolate, some others have a limited or local 

 use, namely, paullinia or guarana, Paraguay tea or mate, and 

 kola-nut or byssi. The first named is used in Brazil, and 

 has been introduced into Paris, but failed to find favour 

 with the French on account of its bitterness and astringency; 

 it is, however, still used by them as a medicine for the re- 

 lief of migraine and neuralgia. The plant producing guarana 

 is the Paullinia Sorbilis, closely allied to the supple-jack of 

 of the Jamaican woods; the seed is the part used, which is 

 made into a dried paste and sold as guarana. Paraguay tea 

 is the leaf-product of the Ilex Paraguay ensis; it does not 

 enter into European commerce, but large quantities are ex- 

 ported from Paraguay for consumption in the adjoining 

 countries of South America. The kola-nut is just beginning 

 to be consumed in Jamaica, and its qualities are just coming 

 into public notice in England. What is remarkable about the 

 entire list is that they each contain as active principles a 

 crystallisable alkaloid, caffeiue, chemically identical in tea, 

 coffee, paullinia, Paraguay tea and kola-nut, and very 

 closely allied in chocolate. The crystallisable alkaloid of tea 

 used to be aud is still named t/ieine, but it is chemically iden- 



