134 MEALS MEDICINAL. 
of the lobster. In the London Pharmacopeia (1696) Cockles 
were said to “strengthen the stomach, increase appetite, excite 
lust, provoke urine, help the cholic, and restore in consumptions.” 
Formerly to “cry Cockles” signified hanging, as simulating 
the gurgling noise made in the throat by the wretch thus 
strangled. “Hot Cockles” was a sport, or game, played at 
Christmas in Elizabethan times; one person knelt, and laid 
his head, with his eyes covered, in another person’s lap, then 
guessing who struck him. net 
“ As at Hot Cockles once I laid me down 
I felt the weighty hand of many a clown; 
Buxoma gave a gentler tap, and I 
Quick rose, and read soft mischief in her eye.” 
The name is derived from the French, “ Hautes coquilles.” 
COCOA (and see CHocoLatE.) 
Tue seeds of Theobroma cacao (a Mexican tree, as already 
described) contain a considerable quantity of nitrogen, but only 
from 20 to 30 per cent of animal nourishment (proteids), the 
remainder being “amides.” The seeds are first allowed to 
ferment, and then roasted, their two halves coming out under 
pressure in a machine as “ Cocoa nibs.” When ground between 
hot rollers these nibs have their oil, or fat, melted, and they 
become reduced to a fluid condition, which is gradually dried, 
and then powdered as “soluble Cocoa.” Dutch manufacturers 
add an alkali so as to saponify the fat. “ Navy Cocoa” is a 
pure preparation free altogether from husk. Cocoa contains 
further some tannin, and is said (by Dr. Haig) to furnish when 
dry 59 per cent of uric acid, or xanthins, being therefore unsuitable 
for gouty persons. But the ash of Cocoa is strongly alkaline, 
consisting chiefly of potash, and phosphoric acid ; and the general 
conclusion is that, whereas out of each hundred pounds of Cocoa 
no less than three and a half pounds consist of pure vegetable 
salts, mainly phosphates, of high nutritious value, particularly 
as alkalies, this article of diet is excellent for those persons who 
are given to the formation of uric acid as a gouty element. The 
whole bean is highly sustaining, with its fat, gum, starch, and 
albumin, besides the theobromin, having all the stimulating 
effects of tea without any harmful reaction. Cocoa contains 
nearly one-fifth of its full bulk as pure albumin, and in a state. 
