YII FERMENTATION AND DRYING 207 



importance occur in a seed which is dormant (i.e. not 

 yet germinating). The different substances are, so to 

 speak, lying next to each other, but each in its own 

 compartment ; so that different substances may be 

 present, which, if they came into actual contact with 

 each other, would bring about important chemical 

 changes. The situation alters, however, as soon as the 

 seed is killed. The structure of the plant-tissue is then 

 destroyed, and the different substances diffuse through 

 the whole seed, and, coming into contact with each 

 other, give rise to many chemical processes. 



This is what occurs in the cocoa seed, which is 

 killed during fermentation by the high temperature 

 caused by the external fermentation. Experiments 1 

 have shown that the temperature which kills the cocoa 

 seeds, the so-called " maximum temperature," is about 

 43 C. Seeds exposed for three hours to a temperature 

 of 43 C. were all found to be alive and germinated 

 normally; of 10 seeds, exposed for six hours to the 

 same temperature, only 4 germinated ; and 10 seeds, 

 exposed for nine hours to this temperature, proved to 

 be all dead. When exposed to a temperature of 44 C. 

 all the seeds proved to be dead after an exposure of 

 six hours. In fermentation a temperature of 43 to 

 45 C. is reached during the second day, and it may 

 therefore be taken that the seeds in the fermenting 

 boxes are killed on that day. From that time the 

 various substances of the seed begin to diffuse and to 

 act upon each other that is to say, internal fermenta- 

 tion sets in. 



It is possible that products of the fermentation of 

 the pulp, especially the acetic acid, may exert an 

 influence upon the seeds and play a part in the internal 

 fermentation ; but this has not been proved as yet, and 

 there is no real indication that it is the case. 



As will be explained, the internal fermentation gives 

 rise to three important compounds, "cocoa-red" or 



1 Sack, " Bydragen tot de kennis van het fermenteeren der cacao" 

 (Bulletin No. 10 of the Dept. of Agriculture, Surinam : January 1908). 



