The botanical definition of the typical form of the cacao tree, which belongs to the family BUTTNERIACEAE, is referable to Linnaeus, who gave it the name “Theobroma Cacao” (food of the gods, from “Theos”, God, and “Broma”, food). Probably chocolate was a favourite beverage with Linnaeus, who may have been acquainted with the work of the Paris physician Buchat, published in 1684, in which chocolate is alluded to as an invention more worthy of being called food of the gods than nectar or ambrosia. Clusius first described the cacao tree in his “Plantae exoticae”. The taste for chocolate soon spread throughout Spain after the return of Cortez’ expedition from the New World, not, however, without encountering some opposition, especially on the part of the clergy, who raised the question whether it were lawful to partake of chocolate on fast days, as it was known to possess nutritive properties. However, it found an advocate in Cardinal Brancatio, who described it as an article belonging, like wine, to the necessaries of life, and he therefore held that its use in moderation could not be prohibited. In 1624 Franciscus Rauch published a work at Vienna, in which he condemned the use of chocolate and suggested that the monks should be prevented from partaking of it, as a means of preventing excesses. About the commencement of the 17th century, the use of chocolate spread from Spain to Italy, where it was brought to the notice of the public by the Florentine Antonio Carletti (1606), who had lived for some time in the Antilles. The method of converting cacao beans into chocolate was also made known in Europe by Carletti, while the Spaniards had kept it a secret. Under Theresa of Austria, wife of Louis XIV, the habit of taking chocolate appears to have become very common in France after the partial introduction of cacao by importation from Spain. The first cacao imported from the French colony of Martinique arrived in Brest in 1679 in “Le Triomphant”, the flagship of admiral d’Estrées. Opinion in France as to chocolate was then divided: Madame Sévigné, once an admirer of chocolate, afterwards wrote to her daughter: “il vous flatte pour un temps et puis il vous allume tout d’un coup fièvre continue qui vous conduit à la mort”, a theory which nowadays must necessarily be regarded as ridiculous. Chocolate was in general use in England about the middle of the 17th century. Chocolate houses, similar to the coffee houses of Germany, were opened in London. Bontekoë, physician to the Elector Wilhelm of Brandenburg, published in 1679 a work entitled “Tractat van Kruyd, Thee, Coffe, Chocolate,” in which he spoke very strongly in favour of chocolate and contributed very sensibly to the increase of its consumption in Germany. The first chocolate factory in Germany is said to have been erected by Prince Wilhelm von der Lippe about the year 1756 at Steinhude. This prince brought over Portuguese specially versed in the art of chocolate making.