56 COCOA AND CHOCOLATE. 



" But it was left for those two great mas- 

 ters, time and experience, to decide that 

 chocolate, carefully prepared, is an article 

 of food as wholesome as it is agreeable ; 

 that it is nourishing, easy of digestion, and 

 does not possess those qualities injurious to 

 beauty with which coffee has been re- 

 proached ; that it is excellently adapted to 

 persons who are obliged to a great concen- 

 tration of intellect in the toils of the pulpit 

 or the bar, and especially to travellers ; 

 that it suits the most feeble stomach ; that 

 excellent effects have been produced by it 

 in chronic complaints, and that it is a last 

 resource in affections of the pylorus. 



" The various properties are due to the 

 fact that, chocolate being, strictly speak- 

 ing, only an elaaosaccharum (oil of sugar) , 

 there are few substances which contain 

 in an equal volume more nourishing par- 

 ticles, the consequence being that it is 

 almost entirely assimilated. 



" During the war (of the Spanish Sue- 



