66 COCOA AND CHOCOLATE 
A recent article in the New York Polyclinic says : — 
‘“It is not infrequent that chemists and physicians differ in opinion 
as regards the use of certain food products and their influence upon 
tissue metabolism ; but for many years they have agreed that cocoa 
(theobroma cacao) exerts an influence upon the human system that is 
equaled by no other vegetable product. Careful analysis, combined 
with extensive clinical experience, has shown beyond shadow of doubt 
PRESIDENT’S OFFICE, BOSTON 
that it retards retrograde metamorphosis of the body tissues (tissue 
waste), is far more nutritious and less directly stimulating to the ner- 
vous system than either tea or coffee, and when the excess of oil 
(oleum theobrome) has been removed, exerts a distinctive beneficial 
influence upon the digestive functions. Such being the case, the use 
of a thoroughly reliable preparation of cocoa should be universally 
encouraged, and it is the concensus of opinion among medical men 
as well as laboratory workers that the breakfast cocoa manufactured 
