376 
Commercial  Varieties  of  Cacao.  { 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm 
August,  1894. 
son  of  a  very  large  number  of  samples.  It  seems  to  the  writer  very 
doubtful,  indeed,  if  any  differences  sufficiently  constant  to  be  relied 
upon  for  diagnosis  can  be  found  between  the  starches. 
The  most  important  result  of  the  investigation  is  rather  the 
proof  it  affords  of  the  essential  likeness  of  the  starches  of  the  dif- 
ferent varieties.  Considering  the  long  time  the  plant  has  been  under 
cultivation,  the  widely  separated  sources  of  the  samples,  and  the 
varied  conditions  under  which  they  must  have  been  produced,  the 
likeness  among  the  starches  is  surprising.  This  will  be  evident  to 
anyone  who  gives  the  figures  a  careful  study. 
Fig.  12. — Starch  from  Caracas  Cacao.    X  1500. 
The  starches  may  be  described  as  follows :  Grains  spherical,  or 
nearly  so,  when  simple ;  hilum  central,  usually  quite  distinct  and 
sometimes  fissured  ;  the  fissure  may  be  simple  and  straight  or  some- 
what curved,  angular  or  stellate ;  one,  or  sometimes  two  circular 
lines,  usually  quite  distinct  about  the  hilum,  but  the  grains  other- 
wise mostly  unmarked  and  smooth ;  some  of  the  grains  compound, 
and  these  may  be  double,  triple  or  even  quadruple. 
To  those  acquainted  with  the  forms  and  structure  of  different 
starches,  it  will  be  evident  from  this  description  and  from  a  study 
of  the  figures,  that  the  starches  of  the  cacaos,  while  resembling 
each  other  very  closely,  are  yet  quite  unlike  those  of  other  drugs, 
