PLANT ANALYSIS AS AN APPLIED SCIENCE 191 
melting the solid chocolate cake to the desired consistency. A 
cup of steaming hot goat’s milk is offered to the traveler to 
mix with this chocolate, if he is unable to take it straight. 
“When Cortez and the Spaniards entered the vast empire 
of Montezuma, they found the use of cocoa or chocolate, as a 
beverage, common. The emperor alone drank it flavored with 
vanilla from a golden cup.” 1 The Spaniards very jealously 
guarded as a secret the mode of chocolate manufacture, and 
were able to retain the monopoly of the trade for many years. 
Theobromine, caffeine, and theine are the alkaloids which 
give cocoa, coffee, and tea their exhilarating properties. They 
owe their aroma to certain volatile oils, which in the case of 
cocoa is probably developed by roasting. 
Tea 2 is of the utmost importance as an article of consump¬ 
tion, and far exceeds in demand cocoa or coffee. Tea can be 
grown in a wide range of climate; in Pekin, with winters of 
Russian severity, to Canton and Macao. Any country having 
a long and hot summer and a cold winter can grow tea. The 
proportion per head of consumption for Great Britain and 
Ireland during 1875 was 4.44 pounds. 
The very best workers in gathering the tea leaves rarely earn 
as much as sixpence a day, and until other nations can raise 
tea for six cents a pound, they cannot compete with China 
in its production. 
Guarana, a product allied to cocoa, and mate, or Paraguay 
tea, are also used. The same or allied alkaloids prevail in all 
the principal substances employed for these beverages in dif¬ 
ferent parts of the world. After tea, there is scarcely any other 
staple of commerce used for dietetic beverages more gener¬ 
ally acceptable with all classes than coffee. 
The statistics of cocoa, tea, and coffee: 3 — 
IMPORTED INTO THE UNITED STATES. 
Tea: Pounds. Value. 
188 4 .-. 65,774,234 $13,504,798.56 
188 5 .-. 69,820,172 i3>7 2 5,3 8 °-75 
1 Tropical Agriculture , by P. L. Simmonds, London, 1877, p. 2. 
2 Ibid., p. 79. 
3 Bureau of Statistics, Treasury Department. 
