160 



MEDICAL BOTANY. 



one only. Styles terminal, consolidated. Stigmas equal in number to the cells. Fruit 

 usually a capsule splitting through the cells, or dividing at the partitions. Seeds some- 

 times winged, but generally round. Embryo usually in a small quantity of fleshy or 

 mucilaginous albumen, straight or curved. Cotyledons fleshy, or usually foliaceous, entire 

 or split, plaited or folded, or even rarely spiral. 



Trees, shrubs, or undershrubs, sometimes climbing, generally furnished 

 with a stellate or forked pubescence or scurfy.. Leaves simple, alternate, usu- 

 ally notched at the edges, generally with deciduous stipules. Inflorescence 

 various. They are natives of tropical or temperate climates. Many of them 

 are possessed of medicinal powers, and one is valuable as furnishing the cacao. 

 The Waltheria douradinha is employed in Brazil as a vulnerary, and its 

 decoction is reputed efficacious in syphilis, catarrhal complaints, &c. (St. Hi- 

 laire, PL usuell. Bras., liv. viii.) Another species, the W. fruticosa, is said 

 by Rottboll to be febrifuge and anti-venereal (Sprengel, Hist. Med., vi. 467). 

 The bark of Gauzuma ulmifolia is administered, in infusion, as a sudorific, 

 and is esteemed beneficial in cutaneous affections in Martinique (Flor. des 

 Antill., ii. 73) ; the fruit abounds in a pleasant mucilage, and the young 

 bark is used to clarify sugar. The bark of Kydia calycina is employed in 

 India as a remedy in eruptive diseases. The fibrous tissue of the bark is so 

 strong in some of the plants of this order as to be manufactured into cordage. 

 The most important species of the order are those composing the genus 

 Tlieobroma, the seeds of which, called Cacao, are the basis of chocolate. 

 These are afforded by several species, and are not 

 the product of one only (the T. cacao), as has 

 been asserted. They are all small trees, occur- 

 ring in the W,est Indies and South America. The 

 seeds are contained in an ovoid capsule, deeply 

 furrowed on the sides, of different colours in the 

 various species and varieties, usually, however, 

 of some shade of yellow, when fresh, and brown 

 when dried. Each of these pods contains from 

 twenty to thirty nuts, of an almond shape, and 

 consisting of a white and sweet, somewhat oleagi- 

 nous substance, covered by a leathery-like shell. 

 When the fruit is perfectly ripe, it is broken to 

 extract the seeds; these are now pulpy, of a sweetish acid taste; they 

 are then dried and packed for exportation. Whilst the fruit is fresh, an 

 ardent spirit can be distilled from it. There are a variety of kinds of 

 Cacao ; the best is that of Caraccas. Before being formed into choco- 

 late, the nuts are roasted, and their external covering removed ; the ker- 

 nel is triturated until it forms a paste, when it is put into moulds, where 

 it soon hardens into what is called chocolate. When in a state of paste 

 it is variously flavoured with sugar, vanilla, spices, and other ingredients, 

 according to taste. The use of chocolate is universal ; it is nourishing, 

 but does not agree with the stomachs of many persons. Where it is 

 digested without difficulty, it is very restorative and analeptic. Those who 

 cannot use chocolate can often take an infusion of the husks, with much 

 benefit. The nut contains a fatty, solid oil, generally known under the 

 name of butter of cacao. This is of a pleasant smell, of a whitish-yellow 

 colour ; it is very emollient, and has been used for suppositories, as an in- 

 gredient in cough mixtures, &c«, but its principal consumption is by the per- 

 fumer, in the formation of soaps and pomatums. 



Cacao contains a neutral crystalline principle, called Theobromine, analo- 

 gous in composition to Theinc and Caffeine, being, like them, highly azo- 

 tized. It may be noticed as remarkable, that the plants containing these 



T. cacao. 



