190 ALIMENTATION. 



Green tea, especially in those unaccustomed to its use, frequently produces nervous 

 tremor, wakefulness, and disturbed sleep when sleep can be obtained palpitations, and 

 other disturbances usually termed nervous. In some persons these unpleasant effects may 

 be overcome by habit ; and many constantly use a mixture of equal parts of black and 

 green tea with no unpleasant effects. The peculiar effects of green tea are attributed to 

 the volatile oil, which it contains in great abundance. 



Tea is prepared for drinking by rapidly making an infusion of the leaves with hot 

 water. The aroma is impaired by boiling. The proportion generally used is about 

 three hundred grains of tea to a quart of water. The tea is first covered with boiling 

 water and allowed to steep, or " draw," for from ten to fifteen minutes, in a warm 

 place; boiling water is then added in the quantity desired. Green tea, treated in this 

 way, yields about twenty per cent, of soluble matters, and black tea, about twenty- 

 three per cent. 



Chocolate. 



Chocolate is made from the seeds of the cocoa-tree, roasted, deprived of their husks, 

 and ground with warm rollers into a pasty mass with sugar, flavoring substances being 

 sometimes added. It is then made into cakes, cut into small pieces or scraped to a pow- 

 der, and boiled with milk or milk and water, when it forms a thick, gruel-like drink, 

 which is highly nutritive and has some of the exhilarating properties of coffee or tea. 

 Beside containing a large proportion of nitrogenized matter resembling albumen, the 

 cocoa-seed is particularly rich in fatty matter and contains a peculiar principle, theobro- 

 mine, analogous to caffeine and theine, which is supposed to possess similar physiological 

 properties. 



The following is an analysis by Payen of the cocoa-seeds freed from the husks but 

 not roasted. Torrification has the effect of developing the peculiar aromatic principle, 

 and moderating the bitterness, which is always more or less marked : 



Composition of Kernels of Cocoa. 



Fatty matter (cocoa-butter) ' 48 to 50 



Albumen, fibrin, and other nitrogenized matter 21 " 20 



Theobromine 4 " 2 



Starch (with traces of saccharine matter) 11 " 10 



Cellulose 3 " 2 



Coloring matter, aromatic essence traces. 



Mineral substances 3 to 4 



Hygroscopic water 10 " 12 



100 100 



It is evident, from the above table, that cocoa with milk and sugar, the ordinary form 

 in which chocolate is taken, must form a very nutritious mixture. Taken with a little 

 bread, it readily relieves hunger and supplies nearly all the principles absolutely necessary 

 to nutrition. Its influence as a stimulant, supplying the place of matter which is directly 

 assimilated and retarding disassimilation, is dependent, if it exist at all, upon the theobro- 

 mine ; but its stimulating properties are slight as compared with those of coffee and tea. 



A drink called cocoa is sometimes made of the seeds roasted entire and mixed with a 

 little starchy matter, but this is not so delicate in flavor as chocolate. A brown, mucilagi- 

 nous infusion is sometimes made of the husks (shells). This has a slight chocolate-flavor, 

 but it does not possess the nutrient properties of the kernels of cocoa. 



Condiments and Flavoring Articles. 



The refinements of modern cookery involve the use of numerous articles which can- 

 not be classed as alimentary principles. Pepper, capsicum, vinegar, mustard, spices, and 



