hat I never found more nor less
than twenty-five. Perhaps if one was to seek out the largest Shells in
the most fruitful Soil, and growing on the most flourishing Trees, one
might find forty Kernels; but as it is not likely one should ever meet
with more, so, on the other hand, it is not probable one should ever
find less than fifteen, except they are abortive, or the Fruit of a Tree
worn out with Age in a barren Soil, or without Culture.

When one takes off the Film that covers one of the Kernels, the
Substance of it appears; which is tender, smooth, and inclining to a
violet Colour, and is seemingly divided into several Lobes, tho' in
reality they are but two; but very irregular, and difficult to be
disengaged from each other, which we shall explain more clearly in
speaking of its Vegetation. [k]_Oexmelin_ and several others have
imagined, that a _Cocao_-Kernel was composed of five or six Parts
sticking fast together; Father _Plumier_ himself fell into this Error,
and has led others into it[l]. If the Kernel be cut in two length-ways,
one finds at the Extremity of the great end, a kind of a longish
[m]Grain, one fifth of an Inch long, and one fourth Part as broad, which
is the _Germ_, or first Rudiments of the Plant; but in _European_
Kernels this Part is placed at the other end.

One may even see in _France_ this Irregularity of the Lobes, and also
the _Germ_ in the Kernels that are roasted and cleaned to make
Chocolate.

FOOTNOTES:

[a] _Piso_ says (_Montiss. Aromat. cap. 18._) that the Blossom is great
and of a bright Yellow, _Flos est magnus & flavescens instar Croci_. A
modern Author has transcribed this. Error of _Piso_; _Floribus_, says
he, _magnis pentapetalis & flavis_. _Dale_ Pharmacologia, _Pag. 441_.

[b] Appen. Rei Herbariae. _pag._ 660. _tab._ 444.

[1] [2] [3] [4] See the Remarks at the End of this Treatise.

[c] _Benzo_ says they grow ripe in a Year, as well as others after him,
_Annuo Spatio maturescit, Benzo memorante_. Carol. Cluzio, l. c. _Annuo
justam attingens Maturitatem Spatio_. Franc. Hernandes, _apud_ Anton.
Rech. _In Hist. Ind. Occidental_, lib. 5. c. 1.

[d] It seems likely that the _Spanish_ Authors who say there are four
Kinds of this at _Mexico_, have no better Foundation for the difference
than this; and Mons. _Tournefort_ had reason to say after Father
_Plumier_, that he only knew one Kind of this Tree. Cacao _Speciem
Unicam novi_. _Append. Rei Herb._ pag. 660.

[e] _A new