Page:The food of the Gods - A Popular Account of Cocoa.djvu/21

stimulating properties cocoa ranks ahead of coffee, though below tea. As a matter of fact, the active principles of all three are alkaloids, practically identical and equally effective.^[1] Each derives its value from its influence on the nervous system, which it stimulates, while checking the waste of tissue, but the cocoa-bean provides in addition solid food to replace wasted tissue. It is, indeed, so closely allied in composition to pure dried milk, that in this respect there is little to choose between an absolutely pure cocoa essence and the natural fluid.^[2] It

1. According to Drs. Playfair and Lankester:

   Tea contains 3 per cent, theine.
   Coffee " 1¾"caffeine.
   Cocoa " 2 "theobromine.

   Probably the proportion of caffeine in coffee would be more correctly stated as 1¼ per cent. Theine and caffeine are identical, but theobromine (C₇H₈N₄O₂) differs from both in the greater proportion of nitrogen which it contains.

2. Dr. Johnson's analysis:
   Dried milk	35	$\scriptstyle {\left.{\begin{matrix}\ \\\\\ \\\ \ \end{matrix}}\right\}\,}$Flesh formers in each hundred parts.
   Cocoa essence	34¾
   Cocoa-nibs	23
   Best French chocolates	11