FOODS, FOOD-STUFFS, AND FOOD-ADJUNCTS. 71 



the best Coffee.* Their detailed researchesf showed 

 it to contain more theobromine than Cacao, to be 

 closely allied to other species, especially 5. cordifolia, 

 Cav,, introduced into the West and East Indies, Sydney, 

 and the Seychelles, etc., but quite distinct from the 

 Bitter, or Male Kola (Garciuia Kola, Heckel), which 

 does not contain caffeine. Mr. Christy has succeeded 

 in preparing a chocolate from them. 



GUAR ANA -BREAD is prepared from the roasted 

 seeds of Paullinia sorbilis, Mart., a strong-growing 

 Sapindaceous climber of the Amazon Valley. The 

 seeds are pounded and rolled into sausages, from 

 which pieces are broken and in fused,! both as medicine 

 and as a drink. 



MAT, or, more properly, Yerba de mate (mate 

 being only the name of the gourd ' tea-pot '), the 

 leaves of Ilex Paraguay 'ensis, St. Hil., and other allied 

 species, according to John Miers, has long been culti- 

 vated in Paraguay, where it has been drunk by all 

 classes since the beginning of the seventeenth century. 

 It is now in use throughout South America, where it 

 was estimated in 1855 that 15 million pounds were 

 consumed annually. It allays hunger, has a mildly 

 tonic and aperient action, and keeps better than tea. 

 Mr. Christy suggests it as valuable to our working- 

 classes^ It is interesting that the leaves of our 



* 'Comptes Rendus,' March 2oth, 1882, p. 802. 



t Christy, ' New Commercial Plants,' No. 8 (1885), p. 5, with 

 plate. 



t T. C. Archer, * Paullinia sorbilis and its Products.' ' Pharm. 

 Journ.,' v (1863), p. 135 ; ' Kew Museum Guide, 5 p. 33: Bentley 

 and Trimen, ' Medicinal Plants,' pi. 67. 



Christy, * New Commercial Plants,' No. 3, pp. 15-19. 



