s from heart dropsy, and as a tonic for senile
heart. That its medicinal properties are appreciated is shown by its
price: during 1918 the retail price was about 8 shillings an ounce, from
which we can calculate that every pound of cocoa contained nearly two
shillingsworth of theobromine.

_"Soluble" Cocoa._

Whilst Forster states that treated cocoa is the most digestible, experts
are not in agreement as to which is the more valuable foodstuff, the
pure untouched cocoa, or that which is treated during its manufacture
with alkaline salts. The cocoa so treated is generally described as
"soluble," although its only claim to this name is that the mineral
salts in the cocoa are rendered more soluble by the treatment. It is
also sometimes incorrectly described as containing alkali, but actually
no alkali is present in the cocoa either in a free state or as
carbonate; the potassium exists "in the form of phosphates or
combinations of organic acids, that is to say, in the ideal form in
which these bodies occur in foods of animal and vegetable origin"
(Fritsch, _Fabrication du Chocolat_, p. 216).

[Illustration: BOXING CHOCOLATES.]

_Food Value of Chocolate._

I ate a little chocolate from my supply, well knowing the
miraculous sustaining powers of the simple little block (from
_Mr. Isaacs_, by F. Marion Crawford).

Whilst the food value of cocoa powder is very high the drink prepared
from it can only be regarded as an accessory food, because it is usual
to take the powder in small quantities--just as with beef-tea it is
usual to take only a small portion of an ox in a tea-cup--but chocolate
is often eaten in considerable quantities at a time, and must therefore
be regarded as an important foodstuff, and not considered, as it
frequently is considered, simply as a luxury.

The eating of cacao mixed with sugar dates from very early days, but it
is only in recent times that it has become the principal sweetmeat. What
would a "sweetshop" be to-day without chocolate, that summit of the
confectioner's art, when the rich brown of chocolate is the predominant
note in every confectioner's window? What would the lovers in England do
without chocolates, which enable them to indulge their delight in giving
that which is sure to be well received?

As a luxury it is universally appreciated, and because of this
appreciation its value as a food is sometimes overlooked.

During the war chocolate was valued as a com