72 
the meat of the green fruit is 33.7; it rises to 50.1 in that of the “fairly 
ripe” nuts and increases to 53.3 in those marked “dead ripe.” The 
“fairly ripe” nuts which had been sent to Manila showed 51.4 per cent of 
anhydrous copra in the meat after standing during one month, and, after 
two, 53.9 per cent, this last figure being very nearly the same as that 
obtained from the “dead-ripe” nuts taken directly from the tree. The 
amount of oil obtainable from this copra also seems slightly to increase 
with age, running 64.5, 64.7, and 66 in the three series (V, VI, and VII), 
and in those nuts which had stood for one and two months it was found 
to be 67.09 and 67.11, respectively. However, it is also quite possible 
that these changes of oil content in the copra in greater part are due to 
individual variation in the nuts themselves. 
Another interesting fact brought out by these analyses is the gradual 
decrease of the amount of the total solids in the milk as a nut grows riper. 
In green nuts this quantity averaged 6.3 per cent and the milk has a 
sweet, pleasant taste and is saturated with a gas which I have proven to 
be carbon dioxide. The occurrence of an alcoholic fermentation in the 
center of a sound, growing fruit, with absolutely no access of air to the 
milk inside, is practically impossible, and, besides, analytical tests have 
proven the absence of alcohol in the fresh milk, so that probably the 
carbon dioxide is a by-product of a process, possibly due to enzymes, which 
is constantly changing sugar and water into fat and cellulose. The milk 
from the nuts called “fairly ripe” was not so pleasant to the taste, con- 
tained very little, if any, carbon dioxide, and had decreased in total solids 
to 5.2 per cent; while the “dead-ripe” samples produced a milk which was 
rather insipid, which contained no gas, and which in most cases had a few 
drops of clear oil floating on the surface ; the total solids in the latter had 
been further reduced to 4.4 per cent. 
Changes taking place during the ripening of a coconut.—From the 
foregoing data, and from observations made on very young nuts, the 
following are probably the changes which a young coconut undergoes 
before it reaches maturity: 
When the young fruit first appears it consists of a white, astringent 
tasting, semifibrous mass, which afterwards is destined to form the husk ; 
and of a thin, green outer skin. The nut gradually increases in size, with 
very little. change in composition, until it has grown to be about 3 inches 
in diameter. It then has a comparatively small, hollow space in the 
center which is completely filled with a watery fluid of an astringent, 
slightly acid taste, and which is much like the juice from a green husk. 
As this period begins, a rudimentary shell is formed around the inner 
surface of the nut; at first this is very thin and soft, but slowly it becomes 
thicker and harder. Not until the nut has reached its maximum size, 
with its shell completed, is there any indication of meat or of oily 
material. When the shell has been formed the milk changes in character, 
