it which made Clusius say that besides its adstringent Taste it had so unpleaâ—ant an one that it was no wonder if such as first taste the primitive Chocolata care â—ot for it Of the same judgment was Benzonus for which he was laughed at by the Nicaraguans and necessity made him to comply at last with them in drinking it in that original and simple manner It hath a Taste somewhat bitterish and sub-adstringent and hath such a mixture of parts that Authors no way agree in Charactering its temper If we look on the Nut and taste it without any other preparation then that of taking off the hull one would accord with Roblez El Cacao es frio y seco de su templansa y per esto tienen partes astringentes con que opila The Cacao nut is by temperament cold and dry and therefore hath adstringent parts with which it begetteth Obstructions Truly that it is dry seems then sensible and that it is cold the universal experience of all who say it allays thirst incredibly and cools the Liver or any other inflamed part seems seems a pregnant Argument And of the same judgment with Roblez who lived in Peru was Dr. Iuanes de Cardenas who lived in the Indies and practised Physick there and made use of his â—wn judgment as well as the Narrations of the Natives He thinks the Cacao nut to be cold and dry in a degree betwixt the first and second Because he is an eminent Writer and his Assertions may perhaps suit best with the generality of Physicians inured to old Hypotheses I shall set down the substance of his judgment as to the Cacao nut He acknowledges a triple distinction of parts in the Cacao nut from whence ariseth a ternary of distinct Qualities in it The first is a cold dry earthy and melancholy substance which if it prevail above the rest it produceth Obstructions and Melancholy and destroies concoction The second is airy hot and proportionate to butter which by agitation and milling riseth in froth This he reputes to be hot and moist and of a lenifying nature which whilest it prevails begets a quite contrary effect for it nouriâ—heth much and multiplies Blood and vital Spirits and enables men to labour This butyrous substance doth principally manifest it self in the Cacao nut when it is indifferent aged and hath been kept a good while and is not a little helped in the shewing it self by being roasted or heated in a frying-pan or kettle before the oil be drawn or it be made into a paste The third sort of parts which he professes to be in it is hot and dry which carries wâ—â—h it a faint resemblance of adustion which makes it to seem bitterish to the taste By reason of the latter parts it becomes penetrating and conveys the other alimentous parts into the body it provokes sweat and monethly evacuations in women it opens all Obstructions and these guide the more oily and butyrous parts into the entrails whereby the body is preserved soluble This multiplicity of parts produceth several effects in the persons using Chocolate according as they are healthy or sick of a weak or strong stomach troubled with Obstructions or free from them And much depends on the individual constitution of persons as also on the Artificial mixture of it into Chocolata whereby the several parts are actuated and vigorated the butyrous parts set at liberty from the confinement they were under by reason of the styptick Particles which more appear to sense in the nut then in the mass for the former dissolve not on the tongue no not when chewed as doth the latter nor hath the latter that sensible astringency and bitterness joyned with its unctuousness and aptitude to melt on the tongue as the former Hernandez who was principal Physician in the Kingdom of Mexico and was appointed by Philip II. to wriâ—e Medicinal and Natural Observations in that Province is at a great loss what â—ature and Temperament to ascribe to this Nut. It is saith he made up of different Particles but very well embodyed and mix'd it is something bitter something sweet and either of a temperate Nature or a little inclined to coldness and moisture Others are of opinion that this Cacao nut is of a temperament inclining to heat and moisture and they consider not the nut as it is entire or under no greater comminution then what the teeth infer but as it is grinded into a paste and sometimes as mixed with water and agitated into forth by a Molinet And their reasons are first because in the grinding it into paste and in the working it up and in the dissolving it in Water again still there are no visible signes of any thing if it be well done and the nuts good but of parts moderately hot moist and unctuous or butyrous there being little or no terrestrial and heavy gross setling whilest it is hot and when it is milled it goes all almost into froth and fat which proceeds say they from an airy hot and moist substance mixing with winde Another Argument they bring for their opinion from the quick nourishment it gives For say they and Galen too that it could not so soon turn into nourishment of the Blood and Spirits if it had not a proportionateness and agreement of temper therewith for there would be some time requisite to assimilate and change what haâ—â— a discrepancy with our Nature before it â—ould nourish us But that which is analogous to our nature is Balsamically hot and moist not cold and dry which are enemies to it Gul. Piso resolves the controversies of the Cacao nut thus Veniamus ad Cacacii Qâ—alitates intrinsecas Has equidem ex effectibus caeterÃsque indiciis constat esse temperatas Substantia ei ex crassioribus simul tenuioribus partibus composita est prorsus ùt in infinitis aliis vegetabilibus observatum est diversas omnino sub eadem forma Substantias coâ—tineri Noster autem Cacacius in pulverem redigitur primùm solâ mox etsi frequenti tusione pinsitur in massam cogitur Quod cùm fiat sine ullius rei admistione ratio arguit aliquid esse in eo tenacis bituminosi instar humoris Aeris Elemento respondens Multa insuper eidem quibuscum suâpte naturâ miscetur insunt ignea quae necessariò incidere atque reserare debent corporis meatus non verò praecludere ùt quidam voluerunt nisi hoc intelligant de crudo vel tosto vel Saccharo condito quo mulieres in Indiis nimium vesci amant unde uteri alvi Hypochondriorum obstructiones incurrunt difficillimas Verùm totum hoc oritur quòd interior ejus substantia dentium incisione non exactè comminuitur nec perfectè commiscetur requiritur enim artificiosa molae veâ—satilis contritio atque tunc demùm siquid noxiae supersit frigiditatis aliorum calidorum commixtione temperatur communicatâ singulis partibus â—âc intimae
de Laet in his Description of the Weâ—t-Indies reports thus of Achiote E semine sc. Achiotl fit tinctura coccinea quâ Pictores utuntur eadem in Medicina usurpatur quum frigida sit qualitate Cum aqua aliqua ejusdem qualitatis hausta aut foris applicata mitigat aestus febriles sistitque Dysenteriam denique utiliter adjungitur omnibus Potionibus refriger antibus unde etiam vulgò miscetur potioni Cacao ad refrigerandum bonum saporem colorem illi conciliandum i. e. Out of the seeds of Achiotl there is made a Scarlet tincture which is used by Painters The same is also used in Physick being of a cold Quality Being mix'd with a proper Vehicle and either given inwardly or outwardly applyed it allayeth Feverish heats and stops the Bloody-Flux In fine it is with much benefit put into cooling Drinks wherefore it is commonly mix'd with the Cacao to make it cooling as well as to amend the taste and colour I have shewed the Opinion of such as favour its being cold even in the third Degree and therein only it is matter of Opinion for as to the Effects attributed thereto I believe them to be of unquestionable authority being grounded upon the practise of the Indies and not established upon Conjectures I now come to propose the Opinion of that diligent observer Roblez who irreconcileably differs from the rest as it follows El Achiote o Viza assi le llaman los Indios le echan en las comidas por a cafran Es caliente y enemigo de nuestro calor natural offende las partes espirituales estraga el higado es ventoso sobre manera por que su calor y humedad pasa de segundo o tercero grado lleuanta vapores gruessos hincha los Hypochondrios dicen que es a proposito para las passiones de ornia Todo el Chocolate que viene de la Nueva-Espanna y Guatimala viene cargado desta terrible veza baptisado con nombre de Achiote y deven los Medicos a conseiar no se use deste con exâ—â—sso por que tengo por sin duda que el Achiote es una limaâ— sâ—rda que produce en nos otros malas passiones y assi desseara tener autoridad para moderarlo tengole por caliente en grado tercero y humedo en segundo y por sas propriedades enemigo de nuestra naturalesa That is Achiote or Viza as it is call'd by the Indians is used by the Natives in their meats instead of Saffron It is hot and destructive to our natural heat it offends the spiritual parts it weakens the Liver it is beyond measure flatulent and windy because its heat and moisture equals the second or third Degree it raiseth gross Vapours it causes a tension in the Hypochondria they say it is good to ease Distempers occasioned by stoppage of Urine All the Chocolata which comes from New-Spain and Guatemala is fill'd with this horrible Ingredient Christen'd with the name of Achiote and Physicians ought to give advice lest people use it in too great a quantity and with excess because I am undoubtedly assured that it insensibly consumesus the Spanish is not to be expressed I think more fittingly and creates in us many other evil Distempers and therefore it ought to be restrained by publick Authority I suppose it to be hot in the third Degree and moist in the second for its Quality it is repugnant to our nature It may seem very strange how so learned and experienced and observing a man could run into an Opinion so contrary to the other of Hernandez both living in the Indies one in Mexico and the former in Peru. If we regard our taste it seems to plead for Hernandez as being evidently cooling though not to that Degree and somewhat adstringent though the coldness and adstringency sensibly differ according as it is better or worse prepared I mean according to the taste for I have yet experimented it no further If we consider its Effects such as have been related they seem still to oppose Roblez and assert its cooling and adstringency As to that enmity which he maketh it to have with humane Nature the universal experience of the Indies and of all that use it supposing the Achiote rightly prepared particularly of Brasile New-Spain and Guatimala in the latter of which Chocolata hath been immemorially drunk and in both which places it is the general and famed Drink doth refute him Nor is every thing that is hot and moist in the third Degree to be exterminated Physick as destructive to our nature What Apology then can we make for so learned and observing a man The principal excuse that I can make for him is first that he relies upon the Authority of the Indians who it seems are as peremptory that Achiote is hot as that Chilli or red Pepper is cold Secondly he observed what is also granted by Ferdinandez That however it had cooling and adstringent effects it had also an operation of a quite different nature for per las partes aereas y delgadas tambien desopila y provoca mezes y sudor by its aereal parts it did open Obstructions provoke the courses in Women and cause Sweat And this operation of Achiote is likewise attested by two eye winesses Dr. Iuanes de Cardenas and Dr. Iuanes de Barrios and is confirmed to us by Mr. Gage in these ensuing words Achiotte hath a piercing attenuating Quality as appeareth by the common practise of the Physicians in the Indies experienced daily in the effects of it who do give it to their Patients to cut and attenuate gross Humours which do cause shortness of breath and stopping of Vrine and so it is used for any kind of Oppilations and is given for the stoppings which are in the breast or in the region of the belly or any other part of the body Now since these effects are usually performed by Medicines of such a nature as Roblez attributes to Achiote it is to be presumed that he said it upon that ground but that operatio sequitur esse that from a parity of Effects one may argue a resemblance of Causes is an errour in Physick And in that he saith it hath an opposition and qualities destructive to the nature of Man I suppose it being granted to have a diuretique and diaphoretique nature and that it introduceth a fusion and precipitation oftentimes in the Blood it may then be granted to bear an hostility against our bodies if taken by way of food what is really Physick and what Hippocrates saith of Purges that those in health bear them with difficulty and that they do depredate and dissolve by way of colliquation the flesh this is true of diuretique Medicines if frequently or continually used by persons in perfect health which as it is the course prescribed to make people lean so it is in consistent with the intended use of Chocolata which is to
do not any way disallow those more delicate and mild ones of America the defect of which I suppose is not to be supplyed by any Cloves or Nutmegs or Black Pepper And although I do commend our American Spice yet would I not have excess of them but a mediocrity especially of the Chiles or long red Pepper which though it be very good for weak Stomachs which reign generally in the Indies and hot Countries yet hath it its faults which I have already recited yet of this that which is brought as the richest from Spain and imitated by several here is too full so as that I have felt the impression of it on the glandules of my throat for a long time after I drank of that Chocolata Since that it is necessary that Chocolata be kept at least a moneth before that it can arrive to its proper Taste which is a known thing and I have tryed it even that which so pleased him above any that Spain or Flanders produced had not the advantage of time for a moneth after it had a much more excellent taste then before It being so we are to have regard to the particular age of the Chocolata to be used for if it be new it is not come to its Maturity nor attained that perfection which is to be gain'd by long Digestion and Fermentation it being observed that several Compounds which is demonstrable in Treacle and Mithridate derive a particular virtue from a long Fermentation distinct from what the several Ingredients new put together have nor is this benefit of Fermentation to be denyed to Chocolata though it can never be bad if the Ingredients be good and well ordered and proportioned since we experience it in the good Chocolata that it becomes better and in the bad that however it may taste well at first if the nuts be corrupt and musty it will suddainly grow worse notwithstandiâ—g the goodness of the Spicery Since Age and Fermentation is so requisite to the improving Chocolata which is avowed by the most accurate Spanish Physicians I leave it to the consideration of Men if the making it up into Cakes or Lozâ—nges can be so good since neither in so small a proportion â—or so small a bulk do Compounds ferment well nor Spicy preparations keep their vigour Besides if Age and time be requisite to ☜ the imbettering Chocolata how can any Chymical Oyls or Spirits be properly put in since they admit not so long keeping but evaporate and so destroy the Composition intended to be enriched by them they carry away with them the choice parts of the Cacao Nut and deal by Chocolata as hot Drinks and Spicery by our bodies which create Apoplexies Palsies and other cold Distempers CHAP. V. Concerning the effects of Chocolata TO speak concerning the particular effects of Chocolata may to some seem a superfluous attempt and to others impossible The former may ground their Opinion upon what I have said of the Cacao Nut whose virtues and nature being known we cannot ignore the nature and effects of the plain simple Chocolata such as alone hath the commendation of the Indian Experience for so many years it being made up of nothing but Cacaoâ— Nuts and Pocholt-grain which I suppose to be all one with the Paniso incorporated and in time of use it was dissolved in Atolle which what it is I have already told and that this was refrigerating and very alimentous is undubitable The Achiote Orichelas and Vaynillas were not ordinary Ingredients but occasionally put in as People's Stomachs could not bear the common Composition it being too cold or too Uuctuous and so relaxing of the Stomach to Persons of a more then ordinary debility of Stomach and according as they were more or less weak so they put in more mild Spices as the Vaynillas c. or the more violent as Agies or Guiny-pepper So that I having enlarged about the Cacao Nut may justly seem to decline a repetition of what I have said And as to more elaborate Compositions abstracting from the already declared nature of the Cacao Nut and other Ingredients already related or hinted it seems impossible to declare any great thing concerning those since their Compositions are unknown and not established by Experience but the conjectures of Physicians or ignorant Chocolata-makers who amass whatsoever is good or pleasant alone to be an Ingredient of this Composition Which course is very vain and foolish since even Cordials and hot things however effectual in swoonings or distempers of cold and winde are prejudicial to the healthy and suit not with all Tempers no nor with any as constant Diet but as Medicinal which is not the real use of Chocolata The Indians as they used it for food and daily aliment prepared it as aforesaid upon occasion of Fevers and other hot Distempers they made some little alteration of it suitable to the disease and so in Fluxes and Dysenteries and imbecillity of Stomach They put no Sugar in it nor otherwise enriched it in that they ordinarily fed on and to this day they have not encreased their way beyond Cacao Achiote Maiz and a few Chiles and a little Anise-seed Nor did the Spaniards vary much from it long after they had subdued the Indies About fifty years ago it began to be used in Spain being sent over for a delicacy after that they had enriched it and given it a pleasant gusto at Mexico And what is now used if we look back to Ledesma's way is of a newer date and if it scarce have the credit of being experienced much less have the several variations created since which have no other Original then that a Spanish Physician finding his Patient used or enclined to Chocolata prescribed it to him or her with a mixture of these Spices or other pleasing and rich Ingredients and sometimes not so to be taken to open Obstructions and to strengthen Nature after a general course of Physick premised and this kind of Chocolata being successful in the recovery of one Grandee or eminent Lady must be propagated to be the entertainment of others whose indispositions require it not or whose healthy condition cannot bear it For it is not to be thought that Alfarache's Hospital of Fools is confined to England no in other Countries there are those that can be as impertinent in their Chocolatas or other Cordials as our Ladies and Gentlewomen are who obtrude upon their Visitants their Diet-drinks Herb-pottage Cordials and Confections with the solemn recommendation of It was used by such and such It contains nothing but what is opening It is good for the Spleen or Liver It dissipates wind and a thousand such like prefatory Discourses to endear to them their mischief This is that which hath occasioned that variety of Chocolata in Spain so that scarce two houses in Sevil make it alike And amongst us the case is worse since that the mixture of Chymical Oyls unknown in Spain and several Magisteries give scope to
for the other in Chocolata Nor is the commutation of Spice for Spice onely even other Flowers and Seeds are substituted and this he knows to be done in Holland which being so how can any recommend the use of Chocolata not knowing what Ingredients are in it or knowing that comes from Holland where other Ingredients then ought to be are put in for certain though it be as uncertain what they are or whereunto effectual It is further to be observed out of his words that such Ingredients are to be put in as suit with each particular Climate and individual Constitution Wherefore the same Chocolata is not to be promiscuously used by men in health of all tempers nor by men sick of different diseases Which was observed before by me in this Discourse and I take notice of it here again occasionally to shew that I am not singular in my opinion Mr. Gage chap. 16 tells us of it That where it is so much used the most if not all of them as well in the Indies as in Spain Italy Flanders which is a cold Country finde that it agreeth well with them True it is that it is used more in the Indies then in the European parts because there their Stomachs are more apt to faint then here and a cup of Chocolatte well confectioned comforts and strengthens the Stomach For my self I must say I used it twelve years constantly drinking one cup in the Morning another yet before Diner between nine and ten of the Clock another within an hour or two after Diner and another between four and five in the afternoon and when I was purposed to â—it up late to Study I would take another cup about seven or eight at night which would keep me waking till midnight And if by chance I did neglect any of these accustomed hours I presently found my Stomach fainty And with this custome I lived twelve years in those parts healthy without any Obstructions or Oppilations not knowing what either Ague or Fever was Yet I will not dare to regulate by mine own the Bodies of others nor take upon mâ— the skill of a Physician to appoint and define at what time and by what Persons it may be used Only I say I have known some that have been the worse for it either for drinking it with too much Sugar which hath relaxed their Stomachs or for drinking it too often for certainly if it be drunk beyond measure not only this Chocolatte but all other Drinks how innocent soever may be hurtfull And if some have found it oppilative it hath come by the too too much use of it As when one drinks overmuch Wine instead of comforting and warming himself he breeds and nourishes cold Diseases because Nature cannot overcome it nor turn so great a quantity into good nourishment So he that drinks much Chocolatte which hath fat parts cannot make distribution of so great a quantity to all the parts and that part which remains in the slender Veins of the Liver must needs cause Oppilations ☞ and Obstructions But lastly to conclude with this Indian drink I will add what I have heard Physicians of the Indies say of it and have seen it by experience in others though never could I find it in my self that those that use this Chocolatte much grow fat and corpulent by it which indeed may seem hard to believe for considering that all the Ingredients except the Cacao do rather extenuate then make fat because they are hot in the third Degree And we have already said that the Qualities which do predominate in the Cacao are cold and dry which are very unfit to add any substance to the body Nevertheless it may be answered that the many unctuous parts which have been proved to be in the Cacao are those which pinguefie and make fat and the hotter Ingredients of this Composition serve for a guide or Vehicle to pass to the Liver and the other parts untill they come to the fleshy parts and there finding a like substance which is hot and moist as is the unctuous part converting it self into the same substance it doth augment and pinguefie Hereupon he recommends it to the English to be drunk by them I shall not instance many Testimonies out of him to evince its general use among the Indians besides what he sayes in the Chapter already cited in his Relations of Guatemala and Chiapa the mentioneth their use of it more then once and speaking of Chiapa chap. 15. he hath this following Story which because it evidenceth the Opinion the Spanish Dames have of Chocolatte I shall insert at large The Women of Chiapa pretend much weakness and squeamishness of Stomach which they say is so great that they are not able to continue in the Church whilst a Mass is briefly hudled over much less whilst a Solemn high-Mass is sung and a Sermon preached unless they drink a cup of hot Chocolatte and eat a bit of Sweat-meats to strengthen their Stomachs For this purpose it was much used by them to make their Maids bring them to Church in the middle of Mass or Sermon a cup of Chocolatte which could not be done to all or most of them without a great confusion and interrupting both of Mass and Sermon The Bishop perceiving this abuse and having given fair warning for the omitting of it but all without an amendment thought fit to fix in writing ☞ an Excommunication upon the Church-doors against all such as should presume at the time of Service to eat or drink within the Church This Excommunication was taken ill by all but especially the Gentle-women much to heart who protested if they might not eat or drink in the Church they could not continue in it to hear what otherwise they were bound unto The chief of them knowing what great friendship there was between the Bishop and the Prior and my self came to the Prior and me desiring us to use all means we could with the Bishop for revoking that his Excommunication so heavily laid upon them and threatening their Souls with damning judgment for the violation of it The good Prior and my self laboured all we could alledging the custome of the Country the weakness of the Sex whom it most concern'd and also the weakness of their Stomachs the contempt that might ensue from them unto his person and many inconveniencies which might follow to the breeding of an uproaâ— in the Church and in the City whereof we had some probable conjecture from what already we had heard from some But none of these would move the Bishop to which he answered that he preferred the honour of God and of his house before his own life The women seeing him so hard to be intreated began to stomach him the more and to sleight him with scornful and reproachful words others sleighted his Excommunication drinking in iniquity in the Church as the Fish doth Water which caused one day such an uproar in the Cathedral that many Swords were