The Food of the Gods | Page 5

be emphasized by a quotation from a paper read before the Surgical Society of Ireland in 1877 by one of its Fellows, Mr. Faussett:
"Without presuming to pass any judgment on the many artificial substitutes which, on alleged chemical and scientific principles, have from time to time been pressed forward under the notice of the profession and the public to take the place of mother's milk, I beg to call attention to a very cheap and simple article which is easily procurable--viz., cocoa, and which, when pure and deprived of an excess of fatty matter, may safely be relied on, as cocoa in the natural state abounds in a number of valuable nutritious principles, in fact, in every material necessary for the growth, development, and sustenance of the body."
After giving some remarkable cases of children being restored from "the last stage of exhaustion" by its use, and "continued through the whole period of infancy," with the effect of their becoming fine, healthy children, he concluded by saying:
"I beg therefore respectfully to commend cocoa, as an article of infant's food, to the notice of my professional brethren, especially those who, holding office under the Poor Laws, have such large and extensive opportunities of testing its value."
As a beverage for mothers or nurses cocoa is recommended by Dr. Milner Fothergill, in his work on "The Food we Eat," in preference to porter, stout or ale, an opinion now becoming generally adopted. It may, therefore, be regarded as the indispensable, all-round nursery food, if not the constant stand-by of the family.
That it is as nutritious for old as well as young we have an interesting proof in the fact that the first Englishman born in Jamaica, Colonel Montague James, who lived to the age of 104, took scarcely any food but cocoa and chocolate for the last thirty years of his life. For athletes and all who desire the development of the muscular tissues, its use is most beneficial. Professor Cavill, in his celebrated swim from Southampton to Portsmouth, and his nearly successful attempt to swim across the English Channel, considered it to be the most concentrated and sustaining food he could use for that trying test of endurance.
In his "Treatise on Food and Dietetics," Dr. Pavy remarks that:
"Containing, as pure cocoa does, twice as much nitrogenous matter, and twenty-five times as much fatty matter as wheaten flour, with a notable quantity of starch, and an agreeable aroma to tempt the palate, it cannot be otherwise than a valuable alimentary material. It has been compared in this respect to milk. It conveniently furnishes a large amount of agreeable nourishment in a small bulk, and, taken with bread, will suffice, in the absence of any other food, to furnish a good repast."
Indeed, the value of cocoa as food for ordinary mortals as well as for mythical beings cannot be better summed up than in the words of Professor Lankester, Superintendent of the Food Collections at South Kensington, who declares:
"It can hardly be regarded as a substitute for tea and coffee; it is, in fact, a substitute for all other kinds of food, and when taken with some form of bread, little or nothing else need be added at a meal. The same may be said of chocolate."
FOOTNOTES:
[1] According to Drs. Playfair and Lankester:
Tea contains 3 per cent. theine. Coffee " 1? " caffeine. Cocoa " 2 " theobromine.
Probably the proportion of caffeine in coffee would be more correctly stated as 1? per cent. Theine and caffeine are identical, but theobromine (C_{7}H_{8}N_{4}O_{2}) differs from both in the greater proportion of nitrogen which it contains.
[2] Dr. Johnson's analysis:
Dried milk 35 \ Cocoa essence 34? \ Flesh formers in Cocoa-nibs 23 / each hundred parts. Best French chocolates 11 /
[3] Mr. O.L. Symonds, "Commercial Products of the Vegetable Kingdom."
[4] The Cacao theobroma. There are several other varieties of cacao, but none of them produce the famous food.
[5] The Cocos nucifera, or "nut-bearing coco."
[6] _Erythroxylon coca._
[7] Or, as otherwise written, cacava quahuitl.
[8] 10 George III., c. 10.
[9] To make cocoa in perfection, for three breakfast-cups: in a quart jug (with rounded bottom and narrower neck by preference) mix 1? dessert spoonfuls (? oz.) of Cocoa Essence with equal bulk of powdered white sugar, and stir to a thin paste with a little boiling water. Mix in an enamelled saucepan one breakfast-cup of milk with two cups of water (cups to be about ? full), and boil with care. When on the boil, pour this over the contents of the jug, and whisk vigorously for a few seconds (see illustration, p. 1). Serve to table without delay. To make a richer drink, use equal parts of milk and water. To ensure the beverage being served as hot as possible, it is desirable to warm the jug before the cocoa is