The seeds of the chocolate-plant are brought into the market in their crude state, as almond-shaped “beans,” which differ in color and somewhat in texture. It is not uncommon to find the external surface of the bean more or less covered with a thin irregular layer of attached earth, but this is generally pretty well cleared off during the transportation. Upon the color of shell and kernel, the relative brittleness, the flavor, and the odor, depends the market value of the seeds. The dried seeds have a papery, brittle shell, which is very smooth on the inside, but on the outside exhibits, under the microscope, a few short hairs and round excrescences. But these are mostly lost by the rough handling and by the attrition of the seeds with one another during transportation. The kernel consists of two large cotyledons or seed-leaves, reddish-gray or reddish-brown, with a shining, oily surface; the whole crushing rather easily into a loose mass of fragments. The kernel, when dry, has a minute, tough, almost stony radicle which separates easily from the cotyledons. Microscopic examination shows that the cells of the seed-leaves contain albumen, oily matters,--sometimes in a crystalline condition,--crystals of an entirely different shape, starch, coloring substances in special receptacles known as pigment-cells, and ducts with spiral markings. The starch grains do not have any very characteristic form or markings: they are generally spherical and simple. The only peculiarity worth mentioning, is the relative slowness with which they are acted on by hot water and by iodine. The coloring substances are mainly of a carmine or violet color, and are distinguished by the change of shade when an alkali is added, becoming thereby darker. These are the only structural elements which a pure powder or paste of chocolate should show under the microscope. Any other substances must be recognized as accidental or intentional additions. All seeds of whatever kind contain, as a part of their substance, the matter of which cell-walls are made; namely, cellulose. The percentage differs in different seeds, in those of the chocolate-plant being about three in the hundred. Cellulose has the same chemical composition as starch; but its physical properties are not the same as those of starch, among which may be mentioned its entire insolubility in boiling water. Starch forms, on an average, eight to ten per cent of chocolate-seeds. It consists of minute spherical grains, not distinguishable from that found in many other kinds of seeds. Traces of gum and of other allied bodies are also present in the seeds.