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Heat and moisture is what's needed for hide glue. Hide glue also will stick to itself, unlike polyvinyl acetate (that's why you've got to remove pva to clean wood to get a successful glue joint).
Cabinet and furniture makers were reluctant to give up hide glue because of most shipping was still done by railroad, a hide glue joint would give while a yellow glue joint would shatter. Railroad shipping was hard on case goods (until the days of cardboard packaging), it's why they invented crazy things like floating joint construction.
I still occasionally see new manufactured cabinets that use hide glue, believe it or not, it's had a resurgence lately.
Yellow glue, like contact cement never actually dries and will creep, especially under load, which is why if you read the label they will state it is not for structural applications.
Yellow glue also tends to bleed through veneer and screw with the surface finish.