no 
Cacao  Shell. 
[Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
<-  February,  19 19. 
The  following  are  the  most  representative  analyses : 
Analyses  of  Cacao  Shell, 
Shell; 
Unroasted. 
Average, 
Per  Cent. 
Roasted. 
Average, 
Per  Cent. 
Roasted. 
Average, 
Per  Cent. 
Per  Cent. 
Water  
12.51 
4-50 
4.87 
9-30 
Fat  
4.23 
4.4O 
2-77 
3.83 
Ash  
10.20 
7-30 
IO.48 
8.26 
Nitrogen  
2.19 
2.50 
2-34 
3.00 
Fibre   
I6.7I 
14.00 
I5-63 
13.85 
Zipperer 
Booth,  Cribb 
and  Richards 
Winton,  Silver- 
man and  Bailey 
Smetham 
Cacao  shells  have  long  been  sold  in  small  quantities  in  Ireland 
under  the  name  of  "  miserables  "  for  the  preparation  of  a  table  de- 
coction. But  it  was  not  till  this  year  that  they  were  sold  under  fancy 
names  at  fancy  prices,  as  much  as  2s.  per  lb.  being  paid  in  some 
cases.  Whilst  a  water  extract  has,  no  doubt,  a  small  food  value, 
cacao  shell  should  be  regarded  as  a  substance  capable  of  producing 
an  inferior  stimulating  drink  rather  than  as  one  giving  a  food  bev- 
erage. In  this  connection  reference  should  be  made  to  a  recent 
paper  by  J.  L.  Baker  and  IT.  F.  E.  Hulton  on  "The  Analysis  of 
'  Cocoa  Teas.'  "2  Cacao  shell  contains  on  an  average  I  per  cent,  of 
theobromine  (the  figure  given  in  most  published  and  analyses  being 
too  low),  and  this  is  probably  its  most  valuable  constituent  when 
used  to  prepare  a  drink.  Its  proper  use  is  as  cattle  food ;  for  this 
purpose  until  the  last  six  months  it  was  low  in  price. 
Smetham3  calculated  the  "  food  units  "  as  102,  which  places  cacao 
shell  above  maize  and  meadow  hay. 
Mr.  W.  L.  Dubois  has  sent  us  the  following  figures,  obtained  in 
America,  showing  the  digestible  nutrients  in  100  lb.  of  shells:  Pro- 
tein 1.53  lb.,  fibre  6.45  lb.,  nitrogen- free  extract  40.6  lb.,  fat  4.91  lb., 
fuel  value  111,079  calories  (1  lb.  gives  4,404  B.Th.U.).  These  ana- 
lytical results  have  been  supported  by  practical  feeding  experiments  in 
America,  in  Germany  (see  Zipperer),  and  in  Turin  by  F.  Faelli, 
who  obtained  an  increase  in  the  daily  average  yield  of  milk.  J.  E. 
Lucas4  obtained  20  per  cent,  decrease  in  amount  of  milk  and  20  per 
cent  increase  of  fat  content.    In  1916  it  was  reported  that  horses  in 
2  Analyst,  1918,  43,  189. 
3  J.  Lancashire  Agric.  Soc,  1914. 
4  Bull.  Agric.  Intell.,  1913. 
