introduction: of cocoa to Europe. 109 



in the whole of Itah'. Cocoa was brought to France 

 in 1615 b^' Anna of Austria, wife of Louis XIII, but it 

 did not find much favour tlien. It became more wideh' 

 used in 1661 under the influence of Alaria Theresia of 

 Spain, wife of Louis XI\^, who, however, used to hide 

 herself (as the Duchess of Montpensier iiiforms us) when 

 drinking her Cocoa. ^Vt that time Cocoa drinking must 

 still have been regarded with disfavour, if not with 

 actual disapproval. In 1671 Madame de Sevigne was 

 able to write to her daughter : ''^^ous ne vous portez pas 

 bien, le chocolat a'ous remettra". Cocoa must have lost 

 its repute as a medicine, however, for in a later letter 

 it is complained of as "source de vapeurs el de 

 palpitations". On the other hand a Parisian doctor. 

 Bachot, read a thesis before the faculty in 1684 in which 

 he advocated well prepared Cocoa as one of the most 

 valuable drinks, and said that it might well have served 

 as Nectar and Ambrosia to refresh the Gods. Linnaeus 

 was of the same opinion when he wrote a treatise on 

 Cocoa in 1769 in the "^Vmoenitates academicae", and 

 gave the Cocoa tree the botanical name of "Theobroma", 

 that is to sa^- "food of the Gods". In 1625 Cocoa 

 bep'an to be used in England, and about the same time 

 it became known in Holland. Bontekoe, physician in 

 ordinary to the Great Elector, brought Cocoa to Berlin. 

 Frederic the Great forbade the introduction of Cocoa 

 and commissioned the same chemist Markgraf, who had 

 pre^'iousl\• experimented on Coffee, to make a substitute 

 for Cocoa. Linden flowers were chosen for this purpose, 

 but with very little result. 



