Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  \ 
February,  1904.  J 
Cocoa  :  Its  Production  and  Use. 
61 
north  and  south,  but  its  cultivation  as  an  industry  may  be  said  to 
be  confined  to  the  belt  between  latitude  150  north  and  150  south. 
In  suitable  stations  (sea  level  to  1500  or  2000  feet)  it  is  cultivated 
from  middle  Mexico  to  central  South  America,  many  of  the  West 
Indian  Islands,  the  East  and  West  coasts  of  Africa,  India,  Ceylon, 
Java,  Borneo,  northern  Australia  and  many  of  the  Polynesian  Islands. 
Usually  the  bean  takes  its  commercial  name  from,  the  country  pro- 
ducing it,  but  the  products  of  some  countries  are  known  by  names 
otherwise  derived.  The  Mexican  is  known  as  Mexican,  or  Socon- 
usco;  the  Brazilian  as  Brazilian,  Bahia  or  Maranham ;  the  Vene- 
zuelan as  Maracaibo  or  Caracas;  the  Ecuadorean  and  Peruvian  as 
Esmeralda  or  Guayaquil ;  that  of  Guiana  as  Berbice.  Ecuador 
grows  and  exports  a  larger  quantity  than  any  other  country,  and 
cocoa  is  perhaps  her  most  important  product.  Trinidad  comes 
next.  Venezuela  comes  third.  The  African  crop  is  growing  in 
importance,  and  its  export  exceeds  that  of  Venezuela,  and  is  ap- 
proaching that  of  Trinidad. 
Cocoa  was  the  first  of  the  three  great  beverages  to  make  the  con- 
quest of  Europe,  but,  when  coffee  came  into  the  field,  cocoa  had 
to  take  second  place,  and  then  came  tea  to  wedge  itself  between  the 
other  two,  thus  pushing  cocoa  into  third  place. 
Payen  gives  the  following  percentage  analysis  of  cocoa  :  Fat 
(cocoa  butter),  52;  nitrogenous  compounds,  20;  starch,  10;  cellu- 
lose^; theobromines;  saline  substances,  4 ;  water,  10;  cocoa 
red  and  essential  oil,  trace.  Until  a  few  years  ago  theobromine, 
caffeine  and  theine  were  thought  to  be  chemically  different,  but 
they  are  now  believed  to  be  identical,  not  only  in  composition,  but 
also  in  their  effects.  All  three  are  mild  cardiac  stimulants,  and  it 
is  chiefly  this  effect  that  has  been  the  handle  of  the  sword  in  the  on- 
slaughts that  have  been  made  against  the  use  of  tea  and  coffee. 
During  their  whole  history,  and  especially  during  their  early  history 
in  Europe,  they  might  have  said,  as  Robert  Burns  said  when  one  of 
his  moral  shortcomings  attracted  particular  attention,  "the  more 
they  clatter  the  better  I'm  kenned."  Cocoa  has  never  been  sub- 
jected to  any  of  the  opposition  that  has  beset  the  paths  of  the  other 
two  beverages,  although  it  contains  about  2  per  cent,  of  theobromine, 
while  tea  contains  2  to  3  per  cent,  of  theine,  and  coffee  contains 
from  1  to  2  per  cent.  Hence,  in  the  matter  of  the  alkaloid,  cocoa 
deserves  a  trifle  better  standing  than  tea,  and  a  little  poorer  stand- 
