VALUE AS FOOD. 77 



" I could produce several instances," he 

 says, " in favor of this excellent nourish- 

 ment ; but I shall content myself with two 

 only, equally certain and decisive, in proof 

 of its goodness. The first is an experiment 

 of chocolate's being taken for the only 

 nourishment, made by a surgeon's wife 

 of Martinico : she had lost, by a very 

 deplorable accident, her lower jaw, which 

 reduced her to such a condition that she 

 did not know how to subsist. She was 

 not capable of taking anything solid, and 

 not rich enough to live upon jellies and 

 nourishing broths. In this strait she de- 

 termined to take three dishes of chocolate, 

 prepared after the manner of the countiy, 

 one in the morning, one at noon, and one 

 at night. There chocolate is nothing else 

 but cocoa kernels dissolved in hot water, 

 with sugar, and seasoned with a bit of cin- 

 namon. This new way of life succeeded so 

 well that she has lived a long while since, 

 more lively and robust than before this 

 accident. 



