Am•/u0nue?lf916arm•}    Recent  Literature  on  the  Soja  Bean.  309 
sample  of  the  drug  and  the  preparations  made  from  it,  and  may  be 
used  for  standardization. 
(2)  That  1-50  per  cent,  may  be  considered  as  the  average  alka- 
loidal  content  of  the  commercial  drug  by  the  benzin  process. 
305  Cherry  Street,  Philadelphia. 
RECENT  LITERATURE  ON  THE  SOJA  BEAN.-. 
By  Henry  Trimble. 
The  immediate  excuse  for  the  appearance  of  this  paper  is  the  fact 
that  a  number  of  contributions  have  recently  appeared  on  the  soja 
bean,  notably  from  the  College  of  Agriculture,  Imperial  University 
of  Japan.  Soja  hispida,  Mcench  (Glycine  hispida,  Maximowicz),  is 
an  annual  leguminous  plant  of  India,  China  and  Japan,  where  the 
bean  and  its  products  constitute  an  important  proportion  of  the 
food  of  the  populace.  Wherever  rice  forms  the  principal  food  for 
man,  as  in  Japan  and  China,  an  addition  of  some  other  food  richer 
in  proteids  is  necessary,  in  order  to  make  up  the  deficiency  in  the 
rice.  The  inhabitants  of  these  countries  near  the  seacoast  supply 
this  want  by  the  use  of  marine  animals,  while  the  inland  people  sub- 
sist on  the  seeds  of  various  leguminous  plants,  especially  the  soja 
bean.  Beef  and  other  kinds  of  meat  have  only  come  into  use  in 
recent  times.  The  following  analyses  indicate  the  reasons  for  the 
popularity  of  the  soja  bean  in  countries  where  nitrogenous  food  is 
in  demand  : 
1. 
2. 
3- 
5-  - 
Crude  protein  
•  38-69 
31-21 
34-92 
33 '36 
42-05 
•  17-87 
18-29 
I5'53 
21-89 
20*46 
12-78 
i2-8r 
4-53 
Starch   
•  3*49 
3'5i 
3'53 
Ash  
•     5 '39 
5-63 
5'97 
5-35 
4-19 
Other  organic  matters  .  . 
.  2I'OI 
28-09 
26-53 
34-iS 
28-82 
Sample  No.  1  was  from  China,  No.  2  from  Hungary,  No.  3  from 
France,  and  all  were  analyzed  by  Pellet  (Compt.  rend.,  90,  ioyj) ; 
No.  4  was  analyzed  by  Giissmann  {Chem.  Centralb.,  1890,  p.  133)  ; 
and  No.  5  was  from  Japan,  analyzed  by  O.  Kellner  (Bulletin  Im- 
perial College  of  Agriculture,  Vol.  I,  No.  2).  The  most  important 
food  constituent  is  the  protein,  but  what  is  of  still  more  interest  to 
pharmacists  is  the  presence  of  an  active  diastatic  enzyme,  said  by 
