Palm Oil and Cacao Butter. 191 



Butter of Cacao. — Cacao butter is obtained from chocolate 

 beans, the fruit of the Theomhra Cacao; either by subjecting 

 the bruised beans to pressure between hot iron plates, or by 

 boiling them in water and scumming oflfthe oil as it collects 

 on the surface. One pound of beans usually yields from three 

 to four ounces of the oil. When first prepared it has usually' 

 a yellowish colour, but this can be easily removed by boiling 

 it with water, or still more completely by treating it with hot 

 alcohol. The taste of cacao butter is mild and agreeable; and 

 its smell, which resembles that of the beans, is owing to the 

 presence of an oily matter, which may be easily removed by 

 one or two digestions with alcohol. With caustic soda cacao 

 butter forms an excellent soap ; but it is by no means very 

 easily saponified. The melting point of cacao butter is stated 

 by most chemical authors at 12^°Fahr. I found that of the 

 specimen 1 examined only 86" Fahr. MM. Pelouze and Boudet 

 state it at 85° Fahr. Cacao butter is remarkable for the 

 length of time it may be kept without becoming rancid. 



In order to subject the acids which cacao butter contains 

 to examination, it was saponified by caustic potash and the 

 soap decomposed by muriatic acid. The melting point of the 

 mixed acid was 125° Fahr. ; they were then dissolved in 

 hot spirits of wine and allowed to crystallize, when the cry- 

 stals were collected and carefully dried by pressure. These 

 solutions and crystallizations were repeated nine or ten times 

 to free ihem from the less crystallizable acids, which remained 

 dissolved in the alcoholic mother liquors. The crystals had 

 then a melting point of 157° Fahr., and on analysis they 

 proved to be stearic acid. The following are the results. 



I. 0-318 gave 0-8835 carbonic acid, and 0-3622 water. 



100-00 100-00 100-00 



This gives the following formula for the hydrous acid : 



Per cent. 



68 atoms of Carbon 5197-6 77-04 



132 „ Hydrogen... 848-6 12-58 



7 „ Oxygen 700-0 10-38 



6746-2 100-00 



