Dr. J. Sack 137 



The fermentation takes from five to eight 

 clays in all, according to circumstances, and 

 the planter can see by the look of the beans 

 whether they are sufficiently fermented or not. 

 The process is thus exactly the same, practic- 

 ally, as it was about a hundred years ago. 



Very little is actually known of the changes 

 that take place in the beans except that the 

 temperature rises during the fermentation, and 

 that it is necessary to turn over the heap, or 

 to shift it from one compartment to another 

 in the sweating-house so as to prevent the 

 rise of temperature from becoming excessive ; 

 further, that during the fermentation the 

 slimy pulp which envelops the seed becomes 

 loosened and fluid so that it is able to run 

 off as a liquid ; and that the seeds themselves 

 change colour, i.e., from pale violet to brown, 

 while they are changed from a fleshy leathery' 

 substance to a brittle one, and the pellicle of 

 the seed, after the fermentation, becomes a loose 

 and brittle skin surrounding the cotyledons. 

 One can well say, therefore, that although this 

 process has been applied for many years when 

 preparing the beans, very little is known so 

 far concerning the changes which the fer- 

 mentation brings about in the cacao. 



But besides these changes there must be 

 others more important, which, however, are 

 less easily perceptible ; and these, still un- 

 known, changes must be those without which 

 the unfermented product is unsuitable for the 

 manufacture of cacao. 



