586 
Soy  Bean. 
( Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
I  November,  1897. 
advanced  stage  that  innumerable  varieties  and  forms  have  been 
developed.  Professor  Rein  says  it  is  the  most  important  legume  in 
extent  of  varieties,  uses,  and  value  grown  in  China  or  Japan.  It  is 
supposed  to  have  been  used  for  food  in  China  even  before  the  time 
of  Confucius.  Although  it  has  been  grown  in  China  and  Japan  for 
such  an  extended  period,  its  cultivation  seems  to  have  spread  very 
slowly  to  the  surrounding  countries.  Its  introduction  into  India 
seems  to  have  taken  place  in  comparatively  modern  times.  More 
recently  it  was  brought  to  Europe,  where  it  was  grown  in  botanic 
gardens  for  more  than  ioo  years  without  attracting  attention  as  a 
plant  of  much  economic  importance.  Aiton  says  in  his  Hortus 
Kewensis  that  it  was  first  brought  to  England  in  1790.  In  1875 
Professor  Haberlandt  began  an  extensive  series  of  experiments  with 
this  plant  in  Austria-Hungary,  and  in  a  work  published  in  1878  he 
gave  the  results  of  his  studies  and  strongly  urged  the  cultivation  of 
the  soy  bean  as  a  food  plant  for  both  man  and  beast.  Although  he 
succeeded  in  exciting  a  great  deal  of  interest  in  its  cultivation  while 
making  his  experiments,  and  distributed  a  considerable  amount  of 
seed,  very  little  seems  to  have  come  of  it ;  for  at  his  death,  which 
occurred  in  1878,  the  interest  flagged,  and  the  soy  bean  has  failed 
to  obtain  the  place  as  a  staple  crop  which  he  prophesied  for  it. 
In  our  own  country  soy  bean  has  been  grown  for  a  great  many 
years,  chiefly  in  the  South,  but  it  is  only  within  the  last  fifteen  years 
that  it  has  received  much  attention  as  a  forage  crop.  Recently  it 
has  been  the  subject  of  considerable  experimentation  at  a  number 
of  the  experiment  stations,  and  its  great  value  as  a  crop  has  been 
clearly  demonstrated. 
The  term  "  soy"  applied  to  this  bean  is  derived  from  a  Japanese 
word  "  shoyu,"  denoting  a  certain  preparation  from  the  seeds  which 
is  a  favorite  article  of  diet  in  that  country.  The  term  "  soja  "  is 
often  used  in  connection  with  this  plant,  but  Professor  Georgeson, 
who  spent  some  time  in  Japan,  and  who,  since  his  return  to  this 
country,  has  experimented  extensively  with  this  plant,  says : 
The  term  soja,  often  applied  to  this  bean,  is  misleading,  inasmuch  as  the 
species  named  by  Siebold  and  Zuccarini  Glycine  soja  is  not  cultivated  there 
(Japan),  or  at  least  rarely  cultivated,  though  wild  in  the  South  ;  and  later  this 
species  was  confounded  with  the  cultivated  species,  G.  hispida  Moench., 
whence  the  origin  of  the  term  soja,  as  applied  to  the  cultivated  bean. 
Recent  works  on  Japanese  botany  seem  to  substantiate  this  posi- 
