482 STERCULIACEZ.—TILIACEA, 
Fliickiger to be a good substitute for the official Tragacanth. (See Astra- 
galus.)—S. urens, a native of Coromandel, yields a gum of a similar 
nature, which is called Gum Kutteera. (See also Cochlospermum.) The 
fruit, seeds, leaves or bark of other species of Sterculia are also used for 
various purposes as medicinal agents in different parts of the globe. The 
seeds of all the species contain a fixed oil, which may be used for burning in 
lamps, &ce. According to Hooker, S. villosa and S. guttata yield fibres 
from which ropes of excellent quality and cloth are made. 
Theobroma Cacao, the Cacao or Cocoa-tree. This tree, by far the most 
important plant of the order, is a native of Demerara and Mexico, and it is 
extensively cultivated in the West Indies, Central America, Mauritius, &c. 
From its seeds Cacao or Cocoa, and Chocolate are prepared. In the manu- 
facture of Chocolate. the seeds are first roasted, then divested of their husks 
and ground, and afterwards triturated in a mortar with an equal quantity 
of sugar, to which some vanilla or cinnamon is added for flavouring, and 
a small quantity of Arnatto as a colouring agent. All the finer qualities 
are thus prepared, but the flavouring of the inferior kinds is sometimes pro- 
duced by adding Sassafras nuts, cloves, or some other aromatic. Chocolate 
derives its name from the Indian term chocolat. Cocoa is either prepared 
by grinding up the roasted seeds with their outer shells or husks between hot 
cylinders into a paste, which is then mixed with starch, sugar, &c.,—this 
forms common cocoa, rock cocoa, soluble cocua, &c.,—or the roasted seeds 
divested of their husks are broken into small fragments, in which state 
they form cocoa nibs, the purest state of Cocoa. The husks of the Cocoa 
seeds are also sometimes used by the poorer classes of Italy and Ireland in 
the preparation of a wholesome and agreeable beverage ; they are imported 
from Italy under the name of ‘miserable.’ Both Cocoa and Chocolate are 
used for the preparation of agreeable and nutritious beverages; these 
are not so stimulating as Tea and Coffee, but they disagree with many 
persons on account of their fatty nature. The generic name, Theobroma, 
was given to this tree by Linnzus, signifying ‘ food of the gods,’ to mark his 
opinion of the nutritious and agreeable nature of the beverages prepared 
from its seeds ; but Belzoni, a traveller of the sixteenth century, regarded 
them in a very different light, for he declared that Cocoa was a drink ‘ fitter 
for a pig than for a man.’ Cocoa seeds owe their properties chiefly to a 
peculiar alkaloid, named theobromine, which resembles theine, the alkaloid 
contained in China Tea (see Thea), &c., and to a concrete oil or fat called 
Butter of Cocoa, which constitutes about half their weight. It has been 
computed that Cocoa and Chocolate form the common unfermented beverages 
of about fifty million persons in Spain, Italy, France, and Central America, 
and that the consumption of Cocoa in these countries annually is over 
100,000,000 lbs. Cocoa is also now largely used in Britain; and its use has 
much increased of late years. Thus the consumption in 1820 was only about 
276,000 Ibs. ; in 1866 it was 4,583,124 lbs.; in 1873 over 8,000,000 lbs. ; 
and it is now estimated to exceed 10,000,000 lbs. annually. From the 
pulp which surrounds the seeds a peculiar kind of spirit is distilled. 
The concrete oil is official in the British Pharmacopeia. It enters into 
the composition of the suppositories ordered in that volume. In itself it 
possesses emollient properties. It is especially valuable from not readily 
becoming rancid by exposure to the air. 
Order 3. Tit1AcE#, the Lime-tree or Linden Order.— 
Character.—Trees, shrubs, or rarely herbs. Leaves simple, 
alternate (fig. 290), with deciduous stipules. Sepals 4 or 5 
(fig. 921), distinct or united, valvate in eestivation (jig. 921), 
deciduous. Petals equal in number to the sepals (fig. 921), 
entire or divided, or rarely wanting, imbricate. Stamens hypo- 
