In consequence of the large quantity of nutritive matter which this liquid contains, it should be regarded rather as food than drink. It is prepared by reducing the cocoa-nut into paste, with sugar, milk, or eggs: it is also frequently mixed with different aromatics, the most common of which is the vanilla, a substance very liable to disagree with the stomach, and to produce a train of nervous symptoms. As a common beverage, chocolate is highly objectionable; it contains an oil which is difficult of assimilation; it therefore oppresses the stomach: this effect is of course increased by the application of too much heat in its preparation. Another objection against its use is to be found in the observations which I have already offered upon the subject of too great concentration. (164).