584 
Soy  Bean, 
(  Am.  Jour.  Pharm, 
1  November,  1897. 
normal  sodium  hydrate  solution  (or  1-5  c.c.  of  normal)  was  required 
to  neutralize  zoo  c  c.  of  whiskey,  this  would  be  equal  to  0-06  gramme 
of  MaHO.  And  if  39-96  grammes  of  NaHO  neutralize  10177 
grammes  of  valerianic  acid,  006  gramme  should  neutralize  0-15 
gramme  of  acid,  as  follows : 
39-96  :  0-06  ::  101-77  :  0-15. 
In  other  words,  each  fluid  ounce  of  whiskey  would  contain  nearly 
of  a  grain  of  free  valerianic  acid. 
The  U.S  P.  (1890)  standard  of  12  c.c.  is,  in  the  writer's  judgment, 
too  low  for  a  good  whiskey.  It  should  be  at  least  1-4  or  1-5,  and  a 
three  or  four-year-old  whiskey  should  be  required  instead  of  a  "  not 
less  than  two-years-old "  product.  The  U.S  P.  of  1880  required 
that  100  c.c.  of  whiskey  should  be  rendered  distinctly  alkaline  to 
litmus  by  2  c.c.  of  the  volumetric  solution  of  soda.  What  the  exact 
chemical  changes  are  that  take  place  in  whiskey  on  aging,  whether 
or  not  any  acetic  acid  is  formed  from  the  ethyl  alcohol  by  oxidation 
from  the  air  during  the  process  of  fermentation,  whether  acetic  ether 
is  produced  with  acetic  acid  as  an  ultimate  product,  and  whether 
the  fusel  oil  or  amylic  alcohol  present  in  raw  whiskey  is  directly 
oxidized  by  age  into  valerianic  acid,  or  is  first  converted  into  valeri- 
anic ether  and  then  into  acid,  are  all  questions  which  have  not  yet 
been  solved  by  chemical  science,  and  remain  for  future  work. 
The  extractive  of  whiskey  most  probably  has  therapeutic  worth,  as 
has  also  the  extractives  in  wines  and  brandies,  and  before  any  action 
is  taken  by  the  Committee  on  Revision  of  the  U.  S.  Pharmacopoeia, 
looking  toward  the  dismissal  of  these  products,  there  should  be  a 
thorough  and  extended  examination  made  of  them  chemically  and 
therapeutically. 
/ 
THE  SOY  BEAN. 
By  Henry  Trimble. 
In  this  Journal  for  June,  1896,  the  writer  published  a  summary  of 
the  literature  of  this  bean,  which  bean  is  of  especial  interest  to  phar- 
macists because  of  the  digestive  ferment  said  to  exist  in  it.  Recently 
the  U.  S.  Department  of  Agriculture  has  issued  Farmers'  Bulletin  No. 
58,  entitled  "The  Soy  Bean  as  a  Forage  Crop,"  by  Thomas  A.  Wil- 
liams, under  the  direction  of  F.  Lamson-Scribner,  with  an  appen- 
dix on  "Soy  Beans  as  Food  for  Man,"  by  C.  F.  Langworthy,  Ph.D. 
