"Before chocolate was known in Europe, good old wine was called the milk
of old men; but this title is now applied with greater reason to
chocolate, since its use has become so common that it has been perceived
that chocolate is, with respect to them, what milk is to infants. In
reality, if one examines the nature of chocolate a little, with respect
to the constitution of aged persons, it seems as though the one was made
on purpose to remedy the defects of the other, and that it is truly the
panacea of old age."

The three associated beverages, cocoa, tea, and coffee are known to the
French as _aromatic_ drinks. Each of these has its characteristic aroma.
The fragrance and flavor are so marked that they cannot be imitated by
any artificial products, although numerous attempts have been made in
regard to all three. Hence the detection of adulteration is not a
difficult matter. Designing persons, aware of the extreme difficulty of
imitating these substances, have undertaken to employ lower grades, and,
by manipulation, copy, as far as may be, the higher sorts. Every one
knows how readily tea, and coffee, for that matter, will take up odors
and flavors from substances placed near them. This is abundantly
exemplified in the country grocery or general store, where the teas and
coffees share in the pervasive fragrance of the cheese and kerosene. But
perhaps it is not so widely understood that some of these very teas and
coffees had been artificially flavored or corrected before they reached
their destination in this country.

Cacao lends itself very readily to such preliminary treatment. In a
first-class article, the beans should be of the highest excellence; they
should be carefully grown on the plantation and there prepared with
great skill, arriving in the factory in good condition. In the factory
they should simply receive the mechanical treatment requisite to