al PERFECT FOOD 43 
brain, producing fretful and lachrymose moods. Cocoa and choco- 
late are neutral in their physical effects, and are really the most harm- 
less of our fashionable 
drinks.’’ 
Jean Baptiste Al- 
phonse Chevalier, in his 
treatise on chocolate, 
says :— 
** Cocoa and chocolate 
are a complete food; 
coffee and tea are not 
food. Cocoa gives one 
third its weight in starch 
and one half in cocoa 
butter; and, converted 
WRAPPING CONFECTIONER’S CHOCOLATE 
into chocolate by the ad- 
dition of sugar, it realizes the idea of a complete aliment, wholesome 
and eminently hygienic. The shells of the bean contain the same 
principles as the kernels, and the extract, obtained by an infusion of 
the shells in sweetened milk, forms a mixture at once agreeable to 
the taste and an advantageous substitute for tea and coffee.” 
Mme. de Sevigne, in one of her letters to her daughter, says : — 
‘*T 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 choco- 
late is that it acts according to the wishes of the one who takes it.’’ 
It will be observed that Brillat-Savarin corroborates this statement 
as to the value of chocolate as an aid to digestion. 
‘“The cocoa bean,’’ says M. Payen, in ‘‘ Des Substances Alimen- 
tatres,’’‘*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 
