_This is an herbaceous plant, which entwines round the adjacent trees or shrubs, and often rises to a considerable height. The leaves grow in threes upon long foot-stalks; and the flowers are large, butter-fly shaped, of purplish colour, and form long and pendant spikes, which have a very beautiful appearance._
It is the property of cowhage, when rubbed upon the skin, immediately to penetrate it, and to cause an intolerable itching. Hence it is sometimes wantonly employed for mischievous purposes; and hence also it is found very troublesome to cattle and domestic animals, in places where the plants grow. Notwithstanding this, it may be swallowed in safety, and, if taken into the stomach and intestines, is said to be an useful remedy for the destruction of worms. As a medicine, it is mixed with syrup or treacle into the form of an electuary.
197. _SOY is a dark-coloured sauce, which is prepared from the seeds of a Chinese plant_ (Dolichos soja), _that has an erect and hairy stem, erect branches of flowers, and pendulous bristly pods, each containing about two seeds._
There is a joke amongst seamen, that soy is made from beetles or cockroaches. This probably originates in the seeds of the plant from which the sauce is manufactured having some fancied resemblance, in shape and colour, to a beetle. These _seeds_ are used in China and Japan as food. They are made into a kind of jelly or curd, which is esteemed very nutritious, and which is rendered palatable by seasoning of different kinds.
The liquid which we know by the name of _soy_ is thus prepared:--After the seeds have been boiled until they become soft, they are mixed with an equal weight of wheat or barley meal, coarsely ground. This mixture is fermented; and a certain proportion of salt and water being added, the whole is allowed to stand for two or three months, care being taken to stir it every day; and, by the end of that time, it is ready for use.
Soy is chiefly prepared in China and Japan; but that imported from Japan is considered preferable to any other. The quantity annually vended at the East India Company's sales is from eight hundred to two thousand gallons, at an average price of sixteen or eighteen shillings per gallon.