cess the beans are gently crushed and winnowed, whereby the
light shells are removed, and after removal by sifting of the "germs"
the beans are left in the form of the irregular cocoa-nibs occasionally
seen in shops. Cocoa-nibs may be infused with water and drunk, but for
most people the beverage is too rich, containing the whole of the
cacao-fat or cacao-butter. This fat is extracted from the carefully
ground nibs by employing great hydraulic pressure in heated presses. The
fat exudes and solidifies. When fresh it is yellowish-white, but becomes
quite white on keeping. It is very valuable for pharmaceutical purposes
and is a constituent of many pomades. With care it can be kept for a
long time without going rancid.

After the extraction of the fat the resulting mass is ground to a fine
powder when it is ready for use in the ordinary way. Many preparations
on the market are of course not pure cocoa but contain admixtures of
various starchy and other bodies.

The shells of the beans separated by the winnowing process contain
theobromine, and their infusion with water is sometimes used as a
substitute for coffee, under the name "miserabile." More recently they
have been put to good account as a cattle food.

In the preparation of chocolate the preliminary processes of cleaning,
sorting, roasting and removing the shells, and grinding the nibs, are
followed as for cocoa. The fat, however, is not extracted, but sugar,
and sometimes other materials also, are added to the ground pasty mass,
together with suitable flavouring materials, as for example vanilla. The
greatest care is taken in the process and elaborate grinding and mixing
machinery employed. The final result is a semi-liquid mass which is
moulded into the familiar tablets or other forms in which chocolate
comes on the market.

Cocoa as a beverage has a similar action to tea and coffee, inasmuch as
the physiological properties of all three are due to the alkaloids and
volatile oils they contain. Tea and coffee both contain the alkaloid
caffeine, whilst cocoa contains theobromine. In tea and coffee, however,
we only drink an infusion of the leaves or seeds, whilst in cocoa the
whole material is taken in a state of very fine suspension, and as the
preceding analysis indicates, the cocoa bean, even with the fat
extracted, is of high nutritive value.

_Cacao-consuming Countries._--The principal cacao-consuming countries
are indicated below, which gives the imports i