scorers could not detect any particular flavor in the butter as a result of feeding the meal. The meal imparted a noticeable softness to the body of the butter, but not sufficiently so as to injure its commercial value excepting during the warm months. The softness of the body of the butter was due probably to the oil contained in the bean meal and not to the bean protein.

4. Soy bean oil depressed the volatile fatty acids (ReichertMeissl number) and thus lowered the saponification number of the butter fat; it increased the percentage of unsaturated acids (iodine number) and the total insoluble acids. The acid number and Valenta test were also increased. The oil did not noticeably change the melting point of the fat as measured by the Wiley test; it increased somewhat the refractive index.

5. The oil caused a marked softness of the butter; the latter also contained some 2 per cent. more moisture than did the butter produced by the normal ration. No other changes were observed.

SOY BEANS AND SOY BEAN OIL.

BY E. B. HOLLAND, M.SC.

1

1. ECONOMIC USES.

The soy bean, Glycine hispida, Moench, is a native of the Orient, where it is grown chiefly for its seed, which constitutes one of the staple products. J. J. Rein2 states that in China and Japan the soy bean ranks first of leguminous crops in extent, variety of use and value, excelling all other vegetables in nutritive qualities, and when properly prepared second to none in flavor. While soy beans are eaten plain cooked, special foods prepared from them seem to be more generally used, prominent among which are several fermented products known as shoyu, an aromatic table sauce; miso, a thicker relish; and natto, a mush; also a bean curd or cheese called tofu. These preparations and others are described more fully by Rein,2 C. F. Langworthy, S. H. Angell, Kellner, M. Inoyue," H. C. P. Geerligs and Bloch.8 Such products, rich in protein, prove a valuable adjunct to rice. Of the land under cultivation in Manchuria, from one-eighth to one-sixth, according to N. Ssemenow," is devoted to the soy bean, and the production of an edible oil from the seeds forms one of the principal industries. Soy beans are considered too valuable in the east to be fed to horses or cattle, though the straw and sometimes the green fodder are used for that purpose.

7

3

1 Japanese, Daidzu and O-mane.

5

2 The Industries of Japan, pp. 56-60, 62, 105-108.

3 U. S. Dept. Agr., Farmers' Bul. 58 (1897), pp. 20-23.

4 U. S. Cons. Rpts., Dec., 1897, pp. 551, 552.

5 Bul. Col. Agr., Tokyo Imp. Univ., 1, No. 6; Chem. Ztg. 19 (1895), pp. 97, 120, 265; Abs

by H. Trimble, Amer. Jour. Pharm. 68 (1896), No. 6, pp. 311, 312.

Bul. Col. Agr., Tokyo Imp. Univ., 2, No. 4; Abs. Amer. Jour. Pharm.

7 Chem. Ztg. 20 (1896), No. 9, pp. 67-69; Abs. Exp. Sta. Rec., 8, p. 72.

Bul. Sci. Pharmacol., 13 (1906), pp. 138–143; Abs. Exp. Sta. Rec., 18, p. 857.

9 Abs. Exp. Sta. Rec., 15, pp. 669, 670.

It is rather uncertain when the soy bean was first introduced into the United States. The earliest references in experiment station literature would indicate between twenty and twenty-five years ago. C. A. Goessmann1 reports growing two varieties on the station grounds in 1888. Of recent years the soy bean has been quite extensively cultivated for soiling (or pasturage) and silage purposes, and to a less extent for the production of commercial seed, for hay and as a green manure or cover crop. In Europe and America soy beans have been very little used as a human food. As they contain only a small amount of starch, sugar and dextrin, flour from the beans has been recommended by A. L. Winton2 and Angell3 for making bread and biscuits for people suffering from diabetes. Soy beans, dried and roasted, have been mentioned as a possible coffee substitute.*

2. THE CHEMISTRY OF SOY BEAN MEAL.

5

The Massachusetts experiment station has given considerable attention to the soy bean as a forage crop, with particular reference to varieties, yield, composition, digestibility and general adaptability for dairy purposes. In addition to work of that character the station inaugurated, in the summer of 1898, a series of feeding experiments, to note the effect of the different nutrient groups-protein, fat and carbohydrates in the various feeds on the composition of the milk and of the butter fat, and on the character of the butter. Fodder groups suitable for such work are usually obtained to the best advantage from the seeds or their manufactured products. The action of soy bean protein and of soy bean oil was under investigation during the winter of 1906-07.

The soy beans employed in the test were a mixture of several varieties, with medium green and southern yellow predominating. The analysis of the medium green will undoubtedly approximate that of the mixture.

1 Mass. State Exp. Sta. Rpt., 7 (1889), pp. 140, 141.

2 Conn. State Exp. Sta. Rpt., 30 (1906), pp. 153–165.

3 Loco citato.

4 Agr. News (Barbados), 2 (1903), No. 36, p. 281; Abs. Exp. Sta. Rec., 15, p. 285; Lang. worthy in Farmers' Bul.

5 Hatch Exp. Sta. Rpts., 13 (1901), pp. 14-33; 14 (1902), pp. 162-168; 16 (1904), pp. 45-62; Mass. Exp. Sta. Rpt., 21 (1909), pp. 66-–110.

6 It was thought this method would yield more definite information than could be learned from the influence of the combined groups.

The above results are substantiated by those reported by Rein,' Langworthy1 and W. O. Atwater,2 showing the beans to be highly nitrogenous and to contain a large amount of oil. The protein of soy beans, according to the analyses of T. B. Osborne and G. F. Campbell,3 consists (a) largely of glycinin, a globulin similar in properties to legumin but of somewhat different composition; (b) a small amount of a more soluble globulin, which resembles phaseolin in composition so far as could be ascertained in reactions; (c) 1.5 per cent. of legumelin, an albumen-like proteid; and (d) a small amount of proteose.

6

4

Winton has shown that a sample of soy bean meal with a nitrogen free extract of 27.2 per cent. contained 9.7 per cent. of starch, sugar and dextrin expressed as starch. Of the remainder, about 5 per cent. is pentosans and 1 per cent. galactan, leaving 11.5 per cent. undetermined. As glycinin, the chief proteid, contains 17.53 per cent. of nitrogen (factor 5.70 instead of 6.25) the undetermined extract matter should be even greater than appears. Kellner and Inoyue1 deny the presence of any appreciable amount of starch, while Morawski and Stingl claim the starch is converted by an active diastatic enzyme into sugar and dextrin. By precipitating an alcoholic extract of the beans with ether, Levallois 8 obtained a sugar which does not reduce Fehling solution, ferments readily with yeast and upon oxidization with nitric acid yields mucic and oxalic acid.

1 Loco citato.

Conn. Storrs Exp. Sta. Rpt., 14 (1901), p. 178.

3 Conn. State Exp. Sta. Rpt., 21 (1897), pp. 374–382.

4 Determined by the diastase method, without previous washing.

5 Hatch Exp. Sta. Rpt., 15 (1903), p. 79.

Hatch Exp. Sta. Rpt., 9 (1897), p. 95.

Chem. Centbl., 1886, p. 724; Abs. Amer. Jour. Pharm.

Compt. Rend. Acad. Sci., Paris, 93, p. 281; Abs. Amer. Jour, Pharm.

3. SOY BEAN OIL.

In order to study the effect of the protein and of the oil respectively it was necessary to extract the oil as thoroughly as possible, and to feed the cake and the oil in separate experiments. The extraction was carried out by the V. D. Anderson Company of Cleveland, O., who state1 that the beans were rolled (not ground), heated to 100° to 150° F. (38° to 66° C.), and the oil removed by torsional pressure. They claim that heating at so low a temperature does not cook the product and thus prevents the liberation of glutinous matter. An analysis of the resulting cake indicates that from 55 to 60 per cent. of the oil was removed. The oil was passed through a filter press, fitted with cloth, but was not refined otherwise.

(a) Physical Tests.

The oil was clear and of a dark amber color, with an odor similar to that of other vegetable oils. As analytical data relative to soy bean oil is rather limited, it seemed advisable, for comparison and general information, to include most of the figures available. The specific gravity as recorded by different observers is stated below:

The result by the writer was obtained with a hydrometer, and is noticeably lower than the others. This is probably due to differences in method of oil production. Morawski and Stingl

1 In correspondence with Dr. Lindsey.

2 J. Lewkowitsch, Chemical Technology and Analysis of Oils, Fats and Waxes, third edition, Vol. II., pp. 506-508.

3 Chem. Ztg., 1886, p. 140; Abs. Amer. Jour. Pharm.

+ Average.