III. 



THE SEEDS OF THE CHOCOLATE-PLANT AS THEY 

 APPEAR IN COMMERCE. THEIR MICROSCOPIC 

 AND CHEMICAL CHARACTERS. 



' I ^HE seeds of the chocolate-plant are brought into the market 

 -*- in their crude state, as almond-shaped " beans," which differ 

 in color and somewhat in texture. It is not uncommon to find 

 the external surface of the bean more or less covered with a 

 thin irregular layer of attached earth, but this is generally pretty 

 well cleared off during the transportation. 



Upon the color of shell and kernel, the relative brittleness, the 

 flavor, and the odor, depends the market value of the seeds. 



The dried seeds have a papery, brittle shell, which is very 

 smooth on the inside, but on the outside exhibits, under the 

 microscope, a few short hairs and round excrescences. But these 

 are mostly lost by the rough handling and by the attrition of the 

 seeds with one another during transportation. The kernel consists 

 of two large cotyledons or seed-leaves, reddish-gray or reddish- 

 brown, with a shining, oily surface ; the whole crushing rather 

 easily into a loose mass of fragments. The kernel, when dry, has 

 a minute, tough, almost stony radicle which separates easily from 

 the cotyledons. Microscopic examination shows that the cells of 

 the seed-leaves contain albumen, oily matters, — sometimes in a 

 crystalline condition, — crystals of an entirely different shape, 

 starch, coloring substances in special receptacles known as pig- 



