. Dr. Axel Preyer 17 
each other, and round the germ; they are of 
soft nature, white, yellow, or violet in colour, 
and possess a strongly bitter taste. The cotyle- 
dons come from the parenchymatous tissues. 
In the cells are deposited reserve substances 
in the shape of thickly compressed globules, 
such as fat, starch, and albumen.! 
If several samples are taken from a heap 
of cacao beans on the second day after fer- 
mentation has been started, and the outer 
pulpish substance be examined under a strong 
microscope, countless organisms of various 
natures show themselves in and about the 
pulp cells. In Ceylon were found yeasts of 
ellipsoidal or rounded spindle-shaped form, 
besides bacilli, which occurred singly or in 
pairs, and spores of various sizes on the 
cacao beans lying on the surface, also moulds 
(Penicillium among others). On the other 
hand, in Java several other kinds of wild 
yeasts were noticed, including pointed, spindle- 
shaped and cylindrical forms; also spores, 
bacilli, and spirals. 
The question then arose whether the changes 
were produced during the fermentation by en- 
zymes, generated by the living plasma of the 
cacao seeds, or the assimilation of the existing 
bacteria, or by the vitality of the yeast cells. 
‘The production of enzymes in the living cacao 
seeds or beans can take place by the germs; 
1 See illustrations in Dr. Nicholl’s Essay.—H. H. S. 
Z 
