Dr. J. Sack 137 
The fermentation takes from five to eight 
days in all, according to circumstances, and 
the planter can see by the look of the beans 
whether they are sufficiently fermented or not. 
The process is thus exactly the same, practic- 
ally, as it was about a hundred years ago. 
Very little is actually known of the changes 
that take place in the beans except that the 
temperature rises during the fermentation, and 
that it is necessary to turn over the heap, or 
to shift it from one compartment to another 
in the sweating-house so as to prevent the 
rise of temperature from becoming excessive ; 
further, that during the fermentation the 
slimy pulp which envelops the seed becomes 
loosened and fluid so that it is able to run 
off as a liquid ; and that the seeds themselves 
change colour, z.¢., from pale violet to brown, 
while they are changed from a fleshy leathery 
substance to a brittle one, and the pellicle of 
the seed, after the fermentation, becomes a loose 
and brittle skin surrounding the cotyledons. 
One can well say, therefore, that although this 
process has been applied for many years when 
preparing the beans, very little is known so 
far concerning the changes which the fer- 
mentation brings about in the cacao. 
But besides these changes there must be 
others more important, which, however, are 
less easily perceptible ; and these, still un- 
known, changes must be those without which 
the unfermented product is unsuitable for the 
manufacture of cacao. 
