Dr. Lucius Nicholls 247 
would be sufficient for the preparation of one 
hundred bags of cured beans. 
By taking samples each time for the prepara- 
tion of the next -yeast the required ferment 
could be kept going indefinitely ; but it would 
be better to obtain a pure sample for the pre- 
paration from a laboratory. 
It now has been shown that if cacao is to be 
sweated upon scientific principles, the proper 
fermenting organisms must be supplied, for in 
this way a definite and thorough fermentation 
will always take place. 
There has been much discussion as to what 
is really required in the finished product, which 
is placed upon the market ; here the decision 
obviously rests with the manufacturers and 
those who buy for them: however, it is for the 
planter and scientist to point out all probable 
possibilities to them. 
From the nature of the case the changes 
which can be brought about in the interior of 
the bean by fermentation have very strict 
limitations. There seems to have been a 
desire to get rid of the bitter principle; this 
appears unnecessary, as it is easily dealt with 
by the manufacturers, and can only be removed 
in the, whole bean by carrying fermentation to 
the stage of putrefaction: that is, when the 
organisms themselves are acting in the interior 
of the bean and not their enzymes only, as 
should be the case in fermentation. 
Again, when putrefaction takes place and 
