A PERFECT FOOD. 



4 1 



WRAPPING CONFECTIONER'S CHOCOLATE. 



Mme. de Sevigne, in one of her letters to her daughter, says : 



" I took chocolate night before last to digest my dinner, in order to 

 have a good supper. I 

 took some yesterday for 

 nourishment, so as to be 

 able to fast until night. 

 What I consider amusing 

 about chocolate is that it 

 acts according to the 

 wishes of the one who 

 takes it." 



It will be observed that 

 Brillat-Savarin corrobo- 

 rates this statement as to 

 the value of chocolate as 

 an aid to digestion. 



'* The cocoa bean," says M. Payen, in " DCS Substances Alimen- 

 taires" "has in its composition more nitrogen than wheat flour, about 

 twenty times as much fatty matter, a considerable proportion of starch, 

 and an agreeable aroma which excites the appetite. We are entirely 

 disposed to admit that this substance contains a remarkable nutritive 

 power. Besides, direct experience has proved this to be the case. In 

 fact, cocoa, closely combined with an equal or two thirds' weight of 

 sugar, forming the article well-known under the name of chocolate, 

 constitutes a food, substantial in all respects, and capable of sustaining 

 the strength in traveling." 



And a little farther on, he adds : 



" Cocoa and chocolate, in consequence of their elementary composi- 

 tion, and of the direct or indirect addition of sugar before their con- 

 sumption, constitute a food, respiratory, or capable of maintaining 

 animal heat, by means of the starch, sugar, gum, and fatty matter 

 which they contain; they are also articles of food favorable to the 



