When cacao beans are ignited, the constituents of an organic nature are volatilised and only the non-volatile or inorganic constituents remain behind. These consist of potash, soda, lime, iron magnesia, combined with silicic acid, phosphoric acid, sulphuric acid and chlorine. The amount of ash in raw and shelled cacao beans varies from 3-4 %. Tuchen[78] found 2·9-3 %, Trojanowski[79] 2·08-3·93 %, Zipperer[80] 2·7-4 %, L’Hote[81] 2·2-4 %, H. Beckurts[82] 2·20-3·75, J. Hockauf[83] 2·84-4·4 percent. Of those kinds which are now most in use, Ceylon gave 3·30 percent, Java 3·20 and Kameroon 2·95 percent. (Beckurts). Quantitative analyses of the ash of the cacao beans have been made by several investigators, and the following table gives a series of the most complete analyses, made by R. Bensemann[84]. ~Table~ 14. =Analysis of the ash of Cacao Beans by R. Bensemann.= The ash of the kernel free from husk dried at 100°C. contained: ————————————————————————+——————+——————+——————+——————+——————+——————- Insoluble respectively |Mara- |Cara- |Trini-|Mach- |Porto | Mean in dilute hydrochloric |caibo | cas | dad | ala | Cab- | or nitric acid | | | | | ello | ————————————————————————+——————+——————+——————+——————+——————+——————- a) Volatile dessicated | 0·142| 0·076| 0·144| 0·074| 0·198| 0·127 at 100° C. | | | | | | b) Fixed at red heat | 0·312| 1·663| 0·553| 0·630| 1·075| 0·846 | | | | | | Soluble in dilute | | | | | | hydrochloric | | | | | | or nitric acid: | | | | | | c) Potassium oxide |35·889|33·844|30·845|30·686|29·989|32·251 K_{2}O | | | | | | d) Sodium oxide | 0·515| 0·766| 1·964| 4·173| 3·427| 2·169 Na_{2}O | | | | | | e) Calcium oxide CaO | 4·118| 5·030| 4·638| 3·112| 2·923| 3·964 f) Magnesium oxide MgO |15·750|15·151|16·060|16·172|17·562|16·139 g) Ferric oxide | 0·182| 0·217| 0·491| 0·629| 0·303| 0·364 Fe_{2}O_{3} | | | | | | h) Aluminium oxide | 0·080| 0·326| 0·490| 0·432| 0·305| 0·327 Al_{2}O_{3} | | | | | | i) Silicic acid | 0·214| 0·211| 0·169| 0·134| 0·240| 0·194 SiO_{2} | | | | | | k) Phosphoric anhydride|27·741|29·302|28·624|37·000|35·274|31·588 P_{2}O_{5} | | | | | | l) Sulphuric anhydride | 2·632| 2·740| 3·957| 2·042| 3·952| 3·065 SO_{3} | | | | | | m) Chlorine Cl | 0·295| 0·341| 0·427| 0·279| 0·085| 0·285 n) Carbonic anhydride |10·349| 8·435| 8·953| 2·788| 3·481| 6·801 CO_{2} | | | | | |