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Transcriber's note:

   Spelling is inconsistent and has been neither modernised nor
   corrected.

   In the original, footnotes are marked with lower case letters,
   numbers, or asterisks. In this transcription, the asterisks
   have been replaced by the number of the page on which the
   footnote appears.

   Contractions (such as atq; for atque) have not been expanded.




THE
Natural HISTORY
OF
CHOCOLATE:

BEING

A Distinct and Particular Account of the COCOA-TREE, its Growth and
  Culture, and the Preparation, Excellent Properties, and Medicinal
  Vertues of its Fruit.

Wherein the Errors of those who have wrote upon this Subject are
  discover'd; the Best Way of Making CHOCOLATE is explain'd; and
  several Uncommon MEDICINES drawn from it, are communicated.

_Translated from the last EDITION of the _French_,
_By_ R. BROOKES, M. D._







The SECOND EDITION.

_LONDON:_

Printed for J. ROBERTS, near the _Oxford-Arms_ in _Warwick-Lane_.
M DCC.XXX.




PREFACE


If the Merit of a Natural History depends upon the Truth of the Facts
which are brought to support it, then an unprejudiced Eye-Witness is
more proper to write it, than any other Person; and I dare even flatter
myself, that this will not be disagreeable to the Publick
notwithstanding its Resemblance to the particular Treatises of
_Colmenero_[1], _Dufour_[2], and several others who have wrote upon the
same Subject. Upon examination, so great a Difference will appear, that
no one can justly accuse me of having borrow'd any thing from these
Writers.

This small Treatise is nothing but the Substance and Result of the
Observations that I made in the _American Islands_, during the fifteen
Years which I was obliged to stay there, upon the account of his
Majesty's Service. The great Trade they drive there in _Chocolate_,
excited my Curiosity to examine more strictly than ordinary into its
Origin, Culture, Properties, and Uses. I was not a little surprized when
I every day discover'd, as to the Nature of the Plant, and the Customs
of the Country, a great Number of Facts contrary to the Ideas, and
Prejudices, for which the Writers on this Subject have given room.

For this reason, I resolved to examine every thing myself, and to
represent nothing but as it really was in Nature, to advance nothing but
what I had experienced, and even to doubt of the Experiments themselves,
till I had repeated them with the utmost Exactness. Without these
Precautions, there can be no great Dependance on the greatest Part of
the Facts, which are produced by those who write upon any Historical
Matter from Memorandums; which, from the Nature of the Subject, they
cannot fully comprehend.

As for my Reasonings upon the Nature, Vertues, and Uses of Chocolate,
perhaps they may be suspected by some People, because they relate to an
Art which I do not profess; but let that be as it will, the Facts upon
which they are founded are certain, and every one is at liberty to make
what other Inferences they like best.

As there are several Names of Plants, and Terms of Art used in those
Countries, which I have been obliged to make use of, and which it was
necessary to explain somewhat at large, that they might be rightly
understood; rather than make frequent Digressions, and interrupt the
Discourse, I have thought fit to number these Terms, and to explain them
at the End of this Treatise: the Reader must therefore look forward for
those Remarks under their particular Numbers.


FOOTNOTES:

[1] De Chocolata Inda.

[2] Du The, du Caffe, & du Chocolat.




THE TABLE.


The First PART.

  Chap. I. The Description of the _Cocao-Tree_.                 Pag. 2

  Chap. II. Of the Choice and Disposition of the Place
    to plant a Nursery.                                             10

  Chap. III. Of the Method of Planting a Nursery, and of
    its Cultivation, till the Fruit comes to Maturity.              16

  Chap. IV. Of the gathering the _Cocao-Nuts_, and of the
    Manner of making the Kernels sweat; and also of drying
    them that they may be transported into _Europe_.                24


The Second PART.

  Of the Properties of Chocolate.                                   38

  Chap. I. Of the old Prejudices against Chocolate.                 39

  Chap. II. Of the real Properties of Chocolate.                    44

  Sect. I. Chocolate is very Temperate.                             45

  Sect. II. Chocolate is very nourishing, and of easy Digestion.    47

  Sect. III. Chocolate speedily repairs the dissipated Spirits
    and decayed Strength.                                           51

  Sect. IV. Chocolate is very proper to preserve Health, and
    to prolong the Life of old Men.                                 56


The Third PART.

  Of the Uses of Chocolate.                                         60

  Chap. I. Of Chocolate in Confections.                             61

  Chap. II. Of Chocolate properly so called.                        62

  Sect. I. Of the Origin of Chocolate, and the different
    Methods of preparing it.                                        63

  The Method of preparing Chocolate used in the _French_
    Islands of _America_.                                           67

  Sect. II. Of the Uses that may be made of Chocolate, with
    relation to Medicine.                                           70

  Chap. III. Of the Oil or Butter of Chocolate.                     74

  Remarks upon some Places of this Treatise.                        80

  Medicines in whose Composition Oil, or Butter of Chocolate,
    is made use of.                                                 91

  The wonderful Plaister for the curing of all Kinds of Ulcers.  ibid.

  An excellent Pomatum for the Cure of Tettars, Ringworms,
    Pimples, and other Deformities of the Skin.                     94

       *       *       *       *       *

The APPROBATION of Monsieur _Andry_, Counsellor, Lecturer, and Regal
  Professor, Doctor, Regent of the Faculty of Medicine at _Paris_, and
  Censor Royal of Books.

I Have read, by order of the Lord Keeper of the Seals, this _Natural
History of Chocolate_, and I judge that the Impression will be very
necessary and useful for the Publick. Given at _Paris_ this 5th of
_April, 1719_.




THE
Natural HISTORY
OF
CHOCOLATE.




Of the Division of this Treatise.


I Shall divide this Treatise on Chocolate into three Parts: In the
_First_, after I have given a Description of the _Cocao Tree_, I shall
explain how it is cultivated, and give an Account how its Fruit is
prepared: In the _Second_, I shall speak of the Properties of
_Chocolate_; and in the _Third_, of its Uses.






PART I.




CHAP. I.

The Description of the _Cocao-Tree_.


The _Cocao-Tree_ is moderately tall and thick, and either thrives, or
not, according to the Quality of the Soil wherein it grows: Upon the
Coast of _Caraqua_, for instance, it grows considerably larger than in
the Islands belonging to the _French_.

Its _Wood_ is porous, and very light; the _Bark_ is pretty firm, and of
the Colour of _Cinnamon_, more or less dark, according to the Age of the
Tree. The _Leaves_ are about nine Inches long, and four in breadth,
where they are broadest; for they grow less towards the two Extremities,
where they terminate in a point: their Colour is a little darkish, but
more bright above than underneath; they are joined to Stalks three
Inches long, and the tenth part of an Inch broad. This Stalk, as it
enters the Leaf, makes a strait Rib, a little raised along the Middle,
which grows proportionably less the nearer it comes to the End. From
each side of this Rib proceed thirteen or fourteen crooked Threads
alternately.

As these Leaves only fall off successively, and in proportion as others
grow again, this Tree never appears naked: It is always flourishing, but
more especially so towards the two _Solstices_, than in the other
Seasons.

The _Blossoms_, which are regular and like a Rose, but very small, and
without smell, proceed from the Places from which the old Leaves fall,
as it were in Bunches. A large Quantity of these fall off, for hardly
Ten of a Thousand come to good, insomuch that the Earth underneath seems
cover'd over with them.

Every _Blossom_ is joined to the Tree by a slender Stalk half an Inch or
a little more in length; when it is yet in the Bud, it is one Fifth of
an Inch broad, and about one fourth or a little more in length: when it
was least, in proportion to the Tree and the Fruit, the more strange it
appeared to me, and more worthy of Attention[a].

When the Buds begin to blow, one may consider the _Calix_, the
_Foliage_, and the Heart of the Blossom. The _Calix_ is formed of the
Cover of the Bud, divided into five Parts, or Leaves, of a very pale
flesh-colour. These are succeeded by the five true Leaves of the same
Colour, which fill up the empty Spaces or Partitions of the _Calix_.
These Leaves have two Parts, the undermost of which is like an oblong
Cup, striped with Purple; on the inside, it bends towards the Center by
the help of a _Stamen_, which serves to fasten it; from this proceeds
outwardly, the other Part of the Leaf, which seems to be separate from
it, and is formed like the End of a Pike.

The Heart is composed of five Threads and five _Stamina_, with the
_Pistilla_ in the middle. The Threads are strait, and of a purple
Colour, and placed over-against the Intervals of the Leaves. The
_Stamina_ are white, and bend outwardly with a kind of a Button on the
top, which insinuates itself into the middle of each Leaf to sustain
itself.

When one looks at these small Objects through a Microscope, one is ready
to say, That the Point of the Threads is like Silver, and that the
_Stamina_ are Chrystal; as well as the _Pistilla_, which Nature seems to
have placed in the Center, either to be the _Primitiae_ of the young
Fruit, or to serve to defend it, if it be true that this Embryo unfolds
itself, and is produced in no other place but the Base.

For want of observing these small Parts, as well as the Bulk of the
Blossom, _F. Plumier_ had no distinct Knowledge of them, nor has he
exactly design'd them, any more than _Mons. Tournefort_, who has done
them after his Draught[b].

The _Cocao-