Dr. J. Sack 145 



the above test it may be concluded that by the 

 fourth day all the seeds would have been dead, 

 and so from this moment one may conclude the 

 internal fermentation commences. 



Change of Colour of the Seed. 



Seeing that with the fermentation of the 

 pulp no substances arise which could be 

 expected to exercise any influence worth speak- 

 ing of, it seems probable that the changes 

 which take place in the seed during fermenta- 

 tion depend upon the mutual action of the 

 substances which are actually present in the 

 seed itself. With the change of colour (from 

 violet with the unfermented to brown with the 

 fermented seeds) this indeed was proved to be 

 the case. 



When crushing cacao seed in a mortar 

 one can already see, during the process, 

 the violet colour changing into brown, which 

 gets darker and darker the longer the cacao is 

 left standing, .and from experiments it was 

 further proved that the brown colour only 

 results with admission of the air ; as a matter 

 of fact, this is also the case with the fermentation 

 of the beans, the brown colouring working from 

 the outside to the inside ; at the same time it 

 appeared that this discolouration did not take 

 place after the beans had been placed for some 

 time in boiling water, but when, however, a 

 few fresh beans were rubbed through this boiled 

 mass the brown colouring showed itself after a 



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