462 



SYSTEMATIC BOTANY. 



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 diyested of their husks, are broken into small frag- 

 ments, in which state they form cocoa nibs, the purest state of Cocoa. The 

 husks of the Cocoa-seeds are used by the poorer classes of Italy and Ii-eland 

 in the preparation of a wholesome and agi-eeable beverage : they are im- 

 ported from Italy under the name of " miserable." Both Cocoa and Chocolate 

 are used for the preparation of agreeable and nutritious beverages. These 

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

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

 was given to this tree by Linnasus, 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 16th 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 theobrojnine, 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 milhons 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 ; and its use has much increased of late 

 years. From the pulp which surrounds the seeds a peculiar kind of spirit is 

 distilled. 



The concrete oil has been made officinal in the last British Pharma- 

 copoeia. 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. 



Natural Order 31. Tiliace^. — The Lime-tree or Linden 

 Order {figs. 884 — 886). — Character. — Trees, shriios, or rarely 

 Iterbs. Leaves simple, alternate {Jig. 264), with deciduous stipules. 



Fig. 884. Diagram ol the flower of the Lime. Fig. 885. Vertical section 



of tiie flower of the Lime {Tiliaeuropoea). 



Sepals 4 or 5 {figs. 884 and 886), distinct or coherent, valvate in 

 aestivation {fig. 886), deciduous. Petals equal in number to the 

 sepals {fig. 884), or rarely wanting, imbricated. Stamens hypo- 

 gynous {fig. 885), usually numerous {figs. 884 — 886), distinct 

 {fig. 886), or polyadelphous {fig. 543); anthers 2-celled {figs. 



