108 FOOD AND DRINK 



rapidly than after drinking tea, while tea soothed them after a 

 day's hard labor, and the better enabled them to sleep. They 

 both operated upon fatigued men like a charm, and their supe- 

 riority over alcoholic stimulants was very decided." 



39. Chocolate is made from the seeds of the cocoa-tree, a 

 native of tropical America. Its effects resemble somewhat 

 those of tea and coffee, but it is very rich in nutriment. Lin- 

 naeus, the botanist, was so fond of this beverage, that he gave 

 to the cocoa-tree the name Theobroma "the Food of the 

 Gods." Its active principle is theobromin. 



40. Alcohol. The word alcohol is of doubtful origin. It is 

 commonly supposed to be derived from the Arabic language, 

 several words in that tongue resembling it in sound, but none 

 of them or any other in the language have a meaning corre- 

 sponding with that of the English term. 



41. History. Alcohol was distilled from rice many centu- 

 ries before that seed was known in Europe. We hear of it in 

 Bagdad about the year 900. It was known to the Moors of 

 Spain, through whom the knowledge of its production spread 

 into Western Europe. The first description of alcohol was 

 given by a western writer about 1280, who wrote of a " burning 

 or ardent water " that resulted from the distillation of wine. 

 It may also have been known to the Romans, for Pliny, in 

 the first century, wrote of a strong kind of wine that was in- 

 flammable a quality that strongly suggests the knowledge 

 of a product of distillation. 



42. The Alcohols. There are at least twelve members of 

 the alcohol family, the oldest of which is common alcohol. 

 This last is the only one that need be referred to here. Com- 

 mon Alcohol is sometimes known as spirit of wine, also as 

 vinic alcohol. It is commonly obtained by the distillation of 

 grains or of wine. The ardent spirits of commerce (brandy, 

 whiskey, gin, and rum) contain about one half water, the other 



89. State what is said of chocolate. 



40. In what language has the word alcohol its origin ? 



41. Give its history .- 



42. How is common alcohol obtained f 



