June i, if^ga.j 
909 
ME. JOSEPH JIATTON'S ARTICLE ON 
"COCOA" IN THE "ENGLISH 
ILLUSTRATED MAGAZINE." 
The article which we quote (aee page 912) is inter- 
esting not from any special kncwledge which Mr. 
Hatton posEBBaes of Tlieobroma cacao and its oultu e 
as from the p.rftphio desoription he gives of the 
Rif?antio works and the multitudinous machi- 
nery by which the seeds are naanutaaured into 
various preparations at the Messrs. Fry's extensive 
works in Bristol. Mr. Hatton indeed quotes a 
Bo-called " technical authority " as writing Oooa 
leaf, ooooa-nut, cocoa ; it requires thought before 
one can rightly attribute the properties and uses 
of these vegetable products." We should think so, 
since there is no such vegetable product in com- 
meroe or the pharamacopeia as cocoa leaves: 
indeed oocoa itself is a most unfortunate corrup- 
tion of cacao. What the " technical authority 
misnamed "cocoa leaves" are the leaves of 
Eruthroxijlon coa&, which the Peruvians chew as 
a stimulant, and which has been recently found 
to yield a most valuable anesthetic. Neither is 
there any vegetable production in existence, which 
is properly named" cocoa-nut." The fruit of 
Coco>i nucifera is properly coco-nut, anJ the tree 
on which it grows is the coconut palm. ilie 
stand old lexicographer, Dr. Johnson, knew this, 
and he described the palm by its proper name. 
The confusion arose from the mixing up by 
the printers ot the definitions of coconut and 
Theohroma cacao. Let ua recapiiulate the three 
strictly correct names, to the orthography of which 
all intelligent writers ought to adhere : — 
Coca leaves. 
Coco nuts and palm. 
Cacao seeds, nibP, Fry's, xa. 
" Cocoa " is absolutely inadmissible ; and yet a 
practised literary man, like Mr. Hatton, not only 
nuotea the " technical authority " as we have 
shown, but himself writes :-" Many think cocoa 
nibs are made from a root, others associate them 
with the cocoa-nut palm." And then he mentions 
an established dictionary in which an engraving 
of a "cocoa-nut" palm is used to illustrate the word 
" cocoa " The leaves of Theohroma cacao may m 
shape resemble those of a plum tree, but they are 
really eiRantio leaves, such as no plum tree ever 
wore We should say that " 100 nuts or more" 
in a cacao pod was a rare occurrence, 25 to 50 
being a more common average. But, as we have 
said the interest of the article centres in the 
complicated and numerous manufacturing oper- 
ations described, and here Mr. Hatton is at 
borne describing what he actually saw. Oacao 
differs essentially from coffee and still more from 
tea in requiring bo much preparation before it can 
be used aa a beverage, or a confection. All 
that is necessary in the case ot ooliee beans is that 
they should be roasted, ground, and treated with 
hot water, while the dried tea leaves require simply 
to be infused in boiling water poured over them 
and allowed to remain not more than hve minutes. 
Aa to cacao it is positively bewildering to read ot 
the processes to which the beans or nuts are 
subieoted by -means ot machines fully illustrated in 
the article we are noticing. Amongst other 
machines there aro hydraulic presses ot great 
DOWer some of which are used to express the 
oil which exists abundantly in the oacao beans. 
The coffee bean and the tea leaves have each 
a subtle essential oil on which their llavour doponds, 
but we never heard of ooffeo beans yielding a fatly oil, 
and in the case ot the tea pliint such an oil is yielded 
only by the seeds. We have never hoard that this oil 
was ol any eoonomio value, like oaoao butter. Cacao, 
in truth, is a food (theohroma, food of the gods) : 
while tea and odffee, although by no means wanting 
in nutritive properties, are more specially valuable 
as cheering and restorative stimulants, without 
producing any of the reaction which accompanies 
the use of alcohol. The first illustration is an 
engraving from a drawing taken in Ceylon of a 
portion ot a cacao plantation with four character- 
istic Tamil women opening the pods and dropping 
the seeds into baskets. Then we have : —A corner of 
the roasting room ; grinding pure chocolate ; a 
pug mill or mixing pan ; rolling sweet chocolate ; 
hydraulic presses for extracting " cocoa" but- 
ter from concentrated " cocoa": stirring the 
sugar cream ; filling packets ot " cocoa"; and 
finally packing fancy chocolate. In the two 
last women only are represented, many of whom 
find employment on the works, connected 
with which altogether, when anew factory is com- 
pleted, there will be very nearly 3,000 men, women 
and children. For the spiritual as well aa the 
physical Bud intellectual well being of their people 
the Messrs. Fry have conscientiously provided. 
It seems that a bad roast would be aa fatal to 
cicao as a bad wither would be for tea, and 
granite rollers are used for grinding, as iron would 
set up injurious chemical action. It will be seen 
that immense quantities of refined sugar are used 
in the manufacture, and that the Messrs. Fry 
make most of the machinery they use, manufactur- 
ing also wooden, tin and paper boxes Ao. It will 
be noticed that artificial cold ia essential to some, 
ot the processes. But for details of great interest, 
on which we cannot touch, we must refer our 
readers to the article we quote. Before we 
read it, we had no idea of the large measure 
of employment afforded by the manufacture in 
Britain ot the twenty-one millions of pounds of 
cacao seeds on which duty waa paid in 1891. From 
the point? of view of home employment and the 
elfganoe and delicacy of the articles turned out,— 
some of them, orange flavoured, — oacao certainly 
excels either tsa or coffee. Our staple has the 
great merit, however, of reaching the Home 
market and the consumer perfectly ready for 
conversion into 
" The cups which cheer but not inebriate," 
which is really the form in which Cowper desoribed 
tea. It is something for this colony to boast that 
her coffee, her tea and her cacao have been amongst 
the best the world has produced. As to the oacao, 
there is certainly no question. 
In Ceylon we produce a small quantity of high 
quality coca leaves ; 
a considerable quantity of highest quality cacao ; 
and many millions of excellent coco-nut. 
B4RK AND DRUG REPORT. 
(From the Chemut and Druggist.) 
London, April 7th. 
Cinchona.— The fortuifihtly auctions held on Tuesday 
were of small extent, the catalogues comprisius of 
Packages Packages 
Coylou bark 611 of which 577 were sold 
East ludiau bark 1,128 do 1,1)0 do 
Java bark 6 do 6 do 
South American bark... 2-19 do 118 do 
Total ... 1,991 do 1,811 d„ 
The assortiueut waa a Rood one, and included a large 
quantity of ludiau Ofliciualia bark, both criginal inii 
renewed, and several very good lots of red and yellow 
bark. The sales wore very Irregular, competition "being 
aluioat coulincd to two lirma. Ordinary qualities were 
Kcnerally lower, but for rich barks full prlcos were paid, 
The average unit lemaiued 144 pel lb, 
