232 The Fermentation of Cacao 
which falls when most of the sugar is converted 
into these two bodies. 
This produces important changes in the 
testa and kernels of the seeds; some of these 
are obvious, and others are shown by careful 
examination and analysis. The first question 
to decide is exactly how these changes take 
place, and in what. way substances pass the 
exterior and the interior of the seed, 
If fresh beans covered by their pulp, and 
other beans in various stages of fermentation, 
are placed in different solutions of salts or 
other chemicals, removed at various times, 
washed well in distilled water, and their kernels 
carefully extracted and analysed, these chemi- 
cals will be found to be present; the amount 
that has reached the kernels depends on the 
degree of fermentation that the beans have 
undergone ; fermented beans have a far greater 
proportion of these, ze., alcohol and acetic 
acid, in their interiors than unfermented beans. 
From this it is shown that the fresh sac- 
charine pulp and testas allow but limited pene. 
tration, whereas the testas of fermented beans 
have become good diffusion membranes, 
allowing matter in solution to pass freely to 
and from the kernels. It was at one time 
thought that whatever passed into or out of 
the bean did so by the hilum; this may occur 
to some extent, but that the whole testa acts 
as a diffusion membrane is shown by the 
following experiment: Beans were soaked for 
