PLANT ANALYSIS AS AN APPLIED SCIENCE 191 



melting the solid chocolate cake to the desired consistency. A 

 cup of steaming hot goat's milk is offered to the traveler to 

 mix with this chocolate, if he is unable to take it straight. 



"When Cortez and the Spaniards entered the vast empire 

 of Montezuma, they found the use of cocoa or chocolate, as a 

 beverage, common. The emperor alone drank it flavored with 

 vanilla from a golden cup." 1 The Spaniards very jealously 

 guarded as a secret the mode of chocolate manufacture, and 

 were able to retain the monopoly of the trade for many years. 



Theobromine, caffeine, and theine are the alkaloids which 

 give cocoa, coffee, and tea their exhilarating properties. They 

 owe their aroma to certain volatile oils, which in the case of 

 cocoa is probably developed by roasting. 



Tea 2 is of the utmost importance as an article of consump- 

 tion, and far exceeds in demand cocoa or coffee. Tea can be 

 grown in a wide range of climate; in Pekin, with winters of 

 Russian severity, to Canton and Macao. Any country having 

 a long and hot summer and a cold winter can grow tea. The 

 proportion per head of consumption for Great Britain and 

 Ireland during 1875 was 4.44 pounds. 



The very best workers in gathering the tea leaves rarely earn 

 as much as sixpence a day, and until other nations can raise 

 tea for six cents a pound, they cannot compete with China 

 in its production. 



Guarana, a product allied to cocoa, and mate*, or Paraguay 

 tea, are also used. The same or allied alkaloids prevail in all 

 the principal substances employed for these beverages in dif- 

 ferent parts of the world. After tea, there is scarcely any other 

 staple of commerce used for dietetic beverages more gener- 

 ally acceptable with all classes than coffee. 



The statistics of cocoa, tea, and coffee: 8 



IMPORTED INTO THE UNITED STATES. 



Tea : Pounds. Value. 



l88 4 65,774,234 $13,504,798.56 



l88 5 69,820,172 i3,725,3 8 -75 



1 Tropical Agriculture, by P. L. Simmonds, London, 1877, p. 2. 



2 Ibid., p. 79. 



8 Bureau of Statistics, Treasury Department. 



