NOTES ON COCONUT, COPEA, AND COCONUT OIL. 119 



cause for the destruction of the fat in the growing nut must therefore be 

 sought elsewhere. A discussion of the changes taking place in the 

 sprouting nut is given in the following chapter. 



II. CHANGES IjST THE COMPOSITION OF THE COCONDT WHILE SPROUTING. 



Four pairs of sprouting coconuts of different ages hut approximately 

 of the same size were selected for this work and their composition de- 

 termined as follows. 



TOTAL WEIGHTS. 



After measuring the length of the sprout, tlie total weights of the whole nuts 

 (including the shell but free from husk), the milk, foot, meat and sprout (with 

 roots) were determined at once. 



MEAT. 



Three samples of 10 grams each were taken from each nut for analysis, viz: 



Ten grams from that portion of the meat nearest the foot; 



Ten grams from that portion of the meat farthest from the foot; 



Ten grams as an average sample of the remainder which in Table I is 

 calculated on the total. 



Moisture. — The materials were dried for five hours at 100° C. 



Oil. — The dried meat was ground to a fine pulp in a mortar and extracted in 

 a Soxhlet cone with chloroform. 



'Sugar. — After removal of the oil the remainder was extracted with 50 cubic 

 centimeters of water for three houi-s in the same apparatus as was used for 

 oil extraction, the solution was then placed in a 100 cubic centimeter flask, 

 clarified with basic lead acetate, the excess of lead removed with potassium 

 oxalate, the whole diluted with water to 100 cubic centimeters, filtered, and 

 after inversion, the sugar determined in 25 cubic centimeters of the filtrate by 

 Fehling's gravimetric method. 



Crtide fiher. — This was determined in the residue from the extraction with 

 water, according to the method of the Association of Official Agricultural 

 Chemists. 



FOOT. 



Sugar. — Ten-gram samples were ground to a fine pulp and placed in a 100 

 cubic centimeter flask with about 50 cubic centimeters of water, they were then 

 allowed to stand at room temperature with occasional shaking for three or four 

 hours and diluted to the mark after the addition of basic lead acetate and 

 potassium oxalate. Twenty-five cubic centimeters of the filtrate were inverted 

 and the sugar determined by Fehling's gravimetric method. 



Crude fiher. — Determined according to method of the Association of Official 

 Agricultural Chemists. 



MILK. 



Sugar. — Fifty -gram samples were clarified, diluted to 100 cubic centimeters 

 and 10 cubic centimeters taken for the Fehling determination (equivalent to 

 5-gram samples ) . 



FREE FATTY ACID IN THE OIL FROM THE MEAT. 



After determining the percentage of oil in the meat, the oil was titrated in 



N 

 alcoholic solution with — potassium hydro.xide, phenolphthalei'n being used as 



an indicator. 



The results are given in the following table: 



