96 STERCULIACE^. 



Sept. 8rd 1526.^ The tree as well as the seeds and their uses, were at 

 length described by Benzoni,^ who lived in the new world from ]o41 to 

 1555. Clusius figured the seeds in his " Notte in Garcire Aromatuni 

 historiam," Antwerpise, 1582. 



Cacao butter was prepared and described by Homberg'* as early as 

 1695, at which time it appears to have had no particular application, 

 but in 1719 it was recommended by D. de Quelus^ both for ointments 

 and as an aliment. 



An essay published at Tubingen in 1735 ^ called attention to it as 

 " novum atque comTnendatissmiuvi medicanieiituni." A little later it 

 is mentioned by Geoffroy^ who says that it is obtained either by boiling 

 or by expressing the seeds, that it is recommended as the basis of cos- 

 metic pomades and as an application to chapped lips and nipples, and 

 to haemorrhoids. 



Production — Cacao butter is procured for use in pharmacy from 

 the manufacturers of chocolate, who obtain it bj^ pressing the warmed 

 seeds. These in the shelled state yield from 45 to 50 per cent, of oil. 

 The natural seeds consist of about 12 per cent, of shell (testa) and 88 

 of kernels (cotyledons). 



Description — At ordinary temperatures cacao butter is a light 

 yellowish, opaque, dry substance, usually supplied in the form of oblong 

 tablets having somewhat the aspect of white Windsor soap. Though 

 unctuous to touch, it is brittle enough to break into fragments when 

 struck, exhibiting a dull waxy fracture. It has a pleasant odour of 

 chocolate, and melts in the mouth with a bland agreeable taste. Its 

 sp. gr. is 0-9G1 ; its fusing point 20° to 30° C. 



Examined under the microscope by polarized light, cacao butter is 

 seen to consist of minute crystals. It is dissolved by 20 parts of boiling 

 absolute alcohol, but on cooling separates to such an extent that the 

 liquid retains not more than 1 per cent, in solution. The fat separated, 

 after refrigeration is found to have lost most of its chocolate flavour. 

 Litmus is not altered by the hot alcoholic solution. 



Cacao butter in small fragments is slowly dissolved by double its 

 weight of benzol in the cold (10° C), but by keeping partially separates 

 in crystalline warts. 



Chemical Composition^ — The fat under notice is composed, in 

 common with others, of several bodies which by saponification furnish 

 glycerin and fatty acids. Among the latter occurs also oleic acid,' 

 contained in that part of the cacao butter which remains dissolved in 

 cold alcohol as above stated. In fact by evaporating that solution a 

 soft fat is obtained. But the chief constituents of cacao butter appear 

 to be steaiin, palmitin, and another compound of glycerin containing 



^ Vedia, Cartas de relacion enviadaa al. * Hist. nat. du Cacao et du Sucre, Paris, 



emperador Carlos V. desde Nueva Espana. 1719. (According to Haller, Bibl. Bat. ii. 



Madrid, 1852. T. 1. 158.) 



2 Chaweton (Urbaiu) Hist. nouv. du * B. D. Mauchart prseside — dissertatio : 



Nom^eau Monde .... extraite del' italien Butyrum Cacao. Resp. Theoph. Ho(F- 



de M. Hieromve Benrxmi Milanais. 1579. mann. 



p, 504, « Tract, de Mat. Med. ii. (1741) 4o9. 



^Hiit. d. VAcad. Boy. des Sciences, tome "^ See article Amygdalce didces. 

 ii. depuis 1686 jusqu'i 1699, Paris, 1733. 

 p. 248. 



