THALAMIFLOR^. 



471 



From its seeds.Cacaoor Cocoa.and Chocolate are prepared. In the manufacture 

 of Chocolate, the seeds are divested of their husks, roasted, and ground, and 

 afterwards triturated in a mortar with an equal quantity of Sugar, to which is 

 added some Vanilla and Cinnamon for a flavouring, and a small quantity of 

 Arnatto as a colouring agent. All the finer qualities are thus prepared, but the 

 flavouring is sometimes produced by adding Sassafras nuts, or some other aro- 

 matics. Chocolate derives its name Irom the Indian term (chocolat). Cocoa or 

 Caraois.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 cocoa, &c.. — or the 

 roasted seeds divested of their husks, are broken into small fragments, in 

 which state they form cocoa nibs, the purest stnle of Cocoa. The husks of the 

 Cocoa-seeds are used by the poorer classes of Italy and Ireland in the prepa- 

 ration 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 beve- 

 rages are not so stimulating as Tea and Coffee, but they disagree with many 

 persons on account of their oily nature. The generic name, Theobroma, 

 was given to this tree by Linnaeus, signifying " food of the gods," to mark 

 his opinion of the nutritious and agreeable nature ■ f the beverages prepared 

 from its seeds; but Beizoni, a traveller of the 16th century, regarded them in 

 a very different light, lor 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 resemblt-s theine. the alkaloid contained in China Tea 

 (see p. 476), &c.; and to a fatty or oily matter called Butter of Cocoa, which 

 constitutes about half their weight. It has been computed by Johnston, that 

 Cocoa and Chocolate form the common unfermented beverages of about fifty 

 millions of men in Spain, Italy, France, and Central America, and that the 

 consumption of Cocoa annually is about 100,000.000 lbs. Cocoa is also now 

 largely used in Britain; thus' in 1852, 6,268,525 lbs. were imported, and of 

 this, about one half was retained for home consumption. From the pulp 

 which surrounds the seeds a peculiar kind of spirit is distilled. 



Natural Order 31. Tiliace.1:. — The Lime Tree or Linden 

 Order. — General Character. — Trees, shrubs, or rarely herbs. 



Fig. 881. 



Diagram of the flower of the Lime Fig. 882. Vertical section of the 



flower of the Lime (,Tilia europcea). 



Leaves simple, alternate (Jig. 267), with deciduous stipules. 

 Sepals 4 or .5 (Jigs. 881 and 883), distinct or coherent, valvate in 

 aestivation (fig. 883), deciduous. Petals equal in number to the 

 sepals (fig. 881), or rarely wanting, imbricated. Stamens hyipo- 

 gynous, usually numerous (figs. 881 — 883), distinct (fig. 883), or 

 polyadelphous (fig. 545); anthers 2-celled (figs. 512 and 881 — 

 u H 4 



