Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 18.djvu/440

* SOXHLET. 380 SOYESHIMA. cultural experiment station. There he became distinguished for his experiments in the chem- istry of milk and its action. He put forth a new theory of the formation of butter and de- vised a method of extracting fats by means of eateji there as a vegetable, but as more or less conjplex food products of which natto, tofu, miso, yuba, and shoyu are commonly made in Japan and similar products in China. The composition of these foods is given in the following table: Composition op Food Products Made from Soy Beans eOV-BEAN FOOD PRODUCTS Water Protein Fat Nitrogen free extract Fibre Ash Per cent. 89.00 18.70 16.32 21.86 50.70 50.40 63.29 Per cent. 6.00 48.50 41.42 42.60 6.70 10.08 S.31 Per cent. 3.40 28.60 23.66 24.62 24 Per cent. 2.10 2.60 15.05 7.65 .40 Per cent. "i'.iS ii'.GO 8.25 Per cent. 0.60 1.70 Natto 3.08 2.8a 6.60 18.77 5.10 12.60 19.45 ether. His investigations, embracing such sub- jects as the difference between human and bo- vine milk, the sterilization of milk, and the de- termination of the percentage of fat contained therein, the organic elianges of tissue in the sucking calf, the varieties of sugars, and the for- mation of fats from carbohydrates, are all valuable. SOY BEAN (.Jap. si-i/an, Chin, shi-yii, soy), Gli/cine hlsijida. An upright bu^hy annual legu- minous plant 21-2 to 4 feet tall, a native of Asia, where it has long been cultivated, especially in China and Japan, and whence it has been introduced into Europe and America. The name soy is derived from the Japanese shoyu, a food prepared from the seeds. The numerous varieties in cultivation vary principally in the color, shape, and size of the seed and the length of the growing period. Besides its use as a forage plant (see below) this crop is also frequently grown as a soil-improver on soils deficient in nitrogen. It thrives best under conditions favorable to corn culture and on soils of medium te.xture well sup- plied with potash, phosphoric acid, and lime, although it also gives good returns on light poor soils. If planted for ha}' or fodder the seed is sown broadcast or closely in drills in the spring when the soil has become thoroughly warm; if for the beans, in drills about three feet apart and cultivated like c<.)rn. Mien used for hay, en- silage, or green fodder the crop is cut when the plants are in bloom, when harvested for the seed, before the pods become ripe enough to burst and scatter the seeds. From eight to ten tons of green forage are obtained from an acre. About 40 bushels of seed per acre is considered a satisfactory yield, but sometimes from 75 to 100. bushels are obtained. Insect enemies and plant diseases do not seem to be troublesome. Soy-bean hay cut at the proper season and well cured has a high feeding value, but since the stems becomo woody and the lea"es fall off badly, the crop is put into the silo either alone or mi.xed with corn ensilage. The seed, being a very concentrated feed, is usually ground and mixed with other feeding stuffs. Fed alone or with other materials the meal is quite thoroughlj' digested ; experiments with sheep showed that 91 per cent, of the protein and 84 per cent, of the total organic matter was assimilated. Similar values of the seed were 87 and So per cent. Though the soy bean is eaten more exten- sively in China and .Japan than in any other countries, so far as can be learned it is never ilost of these soy-bean products, which have been popular from ancient times, are fermented. The cell walls and other carbohydrate materials are broken down, the cell contents rendered more accessible to the digestive juices, and at the same time peculiar and pleasant flavors are de- veloped. The statement is frequentlj' made that the Orientals live almost exclusively upon rice, eat- ing little or no meat. It is not, however, gen- erally known that the deficiency of protein in the rice is made up by the consumption of large quantities of these soy-bean products, which are said to take the place in the .Japanese dietary of meat and other animal nitrogenous foods too costly to be eaten by the populace. They are eaten in some form by ricli and poor at almost every meal. A large nunilier of dietary and di- gestion experiments have been made in Japan in which soy-bean preparations formed a consider- able part of the food consumed. Generally speak- ing, the nitrogen w'as well assimilated. The beans are sometimes used for bread-making, and when roasted as a substitute for coffee. SOYER, swil'ya', Alexis BenoIt (1809-58), A I'rencii cook and writer on cookery, born at Jleaux-en-Brie. After the Kevolution of 18.30 he went to England, where he became chief cook to the Duke of Cambridge. In 1837 he became chef at the Reform Club. In 1847 on a Govern- ment appointment he proceeded to Ireland, where a serious famine prevailed, and there erected and conducted a large number of kitchens from which food was served at half the regular price. In 1855 he went to the Crimea, where, in conjunc- tion with Florence Nightingale, he directed re- forms in the dietaries of the military hospitals. This work he continued after his return to Eng- land at the close of the war, with the result that a radical dietary reform both in the hospitals and in the ordinarv barrack rations was effected. He wrote extensively on cookery, among his pub- lished works being: The Gastronomic Regenera- tor (184G), The Modern Houseirife (1849), A History of Food in All Ages (1853), A Shilling Cookery Book for the Peojile (1855), Soycr's Culinary Campnign vith the Plain Art of Cook- ery for Military and Civil Institutions (1857), Instrnetions for Military Hospitals (1860). Con- sult also Volant and Warren, Memoirs of Alexis Hoyrr (London, 1858), SOYESHIMA, s6-yesh'I-ma, T. £omi. A •lapaue.se statesman and scholar, born at Saga, in the Province of Hizen, in Kiusliiu, and edu- cated in the local school for samurai. In 1866