ROBBING PERSIMMONS OF PUCKER 
with alcohol. They lost their bitterness. Then a handier 
way to administer the stimulant was discovered. A piece 
of blotting paper saturated with alcohol was put in each 
tub. Still the process worked. 
By this time persimmons were being treated in large 
quantities. Hundreds of casks of them were being proc¬ 
essed and marketed. They were being brought to more 
and more tables in a form that was firm and delicious. 
Then an accident happened. A keg was opened, and it 
was found that whoever had packed it had neglected to 
put in the blotter with the alcohol. The persimmons, 
however, were firm and sweet. Sealed in kegs with no 
alcohol at all, they had nevertheless undergone the de¬ 
sired change. 
Still the men of science did not know what caused the 
transformation. As is the way of scientists, they in¬ 
sisted on finding out. They sealed persimmons in one 
of these casks, let it stand for a while, and examined the 
air that it contained. They found that the oxygen in 
the air had been used up, and that carbon-dioxide gas 
had taken its place. 
The experimenters proceeded on the theory that the 
carbon-dioxide gas combined with the tannic acid of the 
persimmons and changed its nature. They treated other 
persimmons, putting this gas in the casks instead of air. 
They sweetened much more quickly. So a process was 
perfected whereby persimmons are sealed up in the pres¬ 
ence of carbon-dioxide gas and robbed of their pucker. 
151 
