Cacao butter is a white substance, slightly yellowish, unctuous to the touch, brittle; with the agreeable odor peculiar to cacao, and a sweet and pleasant taste. Its density is 0.961, it melts at 30°-33°, and solidifies at 25°. It dissolves in 20 parts of boiling alcohol, in 100 parts of cold alcohol and in twice its weight of benzin. Cacao butter is obtained by grinding or mashing the roasted seeds in a hot apparatus and mixing the mass with a fifth or tenth of its weight of boiling water. It is then pressed between two hot iron plates and the butter thus obtained is refined by boiling water. It is then put aside in earthen pans, or still better, in moulds, where it solidifies. It does not easily become rancid and, for this reason, enters into the composition of many ointments and pomades, or is used alone. It serves as the base for suppositories and is, finally, a highly valued cosmetic. A common substitute is made by mixing oil of almonds, wax and animal fat. Before going further let us describe the composition of Spanish chocolate according to the French chemist Boussingault: Cane sugar 41.40 grams. Cacao butter 29.24 grams. Starch, glucose 1.48 grams. Theobromine 1.93 grams. Asparagin a trace Albumin 6.25 grams. Gum 1.42 grams. Tartaric acid 1.98 grams. Tannin and coloring matter 0.022 grams. Soluble cellulose 6.21 grams. Ash 2.34 grams. Water 4.36 grams. Undetermined material 3.27 grams. ------ 100.00 Botanical Description.--A small tree about 10° high, with leaves broad, 6-12' long, hanging or drooping, lanceolate, entire, and somewhat pubescent on both surfaces. Petioles very short with 2 deciduous stipules at the base. Flowers in clusters on the roots, trunk and branches. Peduncle very long. Nectary divided in 5 parts, straight, awl-shaped and 2-nerved. Calyx, 5 sepals. Corolla, 5 petals curved upward in the form of a bow as far as the middle, where they form a hollow with two little horns; then curving downwards, then upwards, widening at the end, the edge finely dentate. Stamens 5, inserted on the nectary, and alternating with the lobes of the latter. Anthers 2 on each filament, concealed in the hollows of the petals. Ovary globose. Style awl-shaped. Stigma cleft almost to the middle, 5-parted. Fruit broad, spindle-shaped, 4' or more long, dark reddish, warty, 10-ribbed, with 5 compartments each containing many compressed, ovoid seeds. Habitat.--Common in orchards and gardens throughout the islands. GERANIACEÆ. Geranium Family. _Oxalis corniculata_, L. (_O. Acetosella_, Blanco.)