A species of Macropiper (M. methysticum), the long pepper, from the root of which an intoxicating beverage is made by the Polynesians, by a process of mastication; also, the beverage itself.
Word of the Day: Catachrestical
Kava
Encyclopedia Britannica
KAVA, an intoxicating drink used in the islands of the South Pacific from the Sandwich Islands to Fiji. In Hawaii it is called “kawa”; in the Marquesas “kava kava”; “ava,” “ava-ava,” and “evava” in Tahiti; and in Fiji “yaquona.” It is made from the roots or leaves of Piper methysticum, Miq,, a species of pepper indigenous in these islands; several varieties are also cultivated by the natives, those growing in a dry soil being considered to be the most active.. To prepare the liquid the fresh roots or leaves, after being chewed by young girls or boys, with good teeth, clean mouths, and free from colds, are placed in a large wooden bowl (“umete”) on three legs made of the wood of the vesi (Afzelia bijuga, Gray), and water or cocoa-nut milk poured over the mass. The liquid is then stirred up, and the woody matter of the root is removed by repeatedly drawing through the infusion long fibres prepared by crushing the green stems of the vau {Hibiscus, sp.), and passing them frequently between two pieces of wood. By this means a muddy-looking liquid resembling café au lait in appearance, or of a greenish hue if made from the leaves, is left in the bowl, a quantity of faecula remaining suspended in the fluid. The drink is then distributed into cups made of plantain leaves, by dipping some of the vau fibre into it and squeezing the liquid into the cups, which are handed to the individuals present. As the process of infusion only takes about twenty minutes, it is obvious that no fermentation can take place. The taste of the liquid is at first sweet and then pungent and acrid. The usual dose is half a cupful, equal to about two mouthfuls of the root Intoxication follows in about twenty minutes, or immediately if twice the usual quantity be taken....
The drunkenness produced by kava differs from that of alcohol in being of a melancholy, silent, and drowsy character, accompanied, if the drink be made from roots growing in a damp soil, with great irritability at the slightest noise. The fit lasts for about two hours, but in persons who only take it occasionally it may continue for six or twelve hours. At Nukahiva kava is said to be used as a daily beverage, probably in small quantities,—its use, however, being forbidden to women and children. In many of the Pacific islands kava is given at official receptions, being the offered and accepted token of hospitality. Formerly the drinking of it preceded warlike enterprises and religious festivals.
The daily use of the drug is sometimes followed by a kind of skin disease, called in Tahiti “arevareva.” The effect on those who are addicted to the use of kava for any length of time is to produce obscurity of vision, red conjunctiva, and yellow coloration of the teeth, while the skin where thick becomes dry, scaly, cracked, and ulcerated, and the body becomes emaciated and decrepit. In Nukahiva it is given as a medicine in phthisis and in bronchitis, a small dose being taken before going to bed.
Mr Collie, surgeon to the ship “Blossom,” states that he observed the infusion of the root to be useful in certain skin diseases (Beachy, Voyage of the “Blossom,” vol. ii. p. 120). Some years ago it was introduced into France as a remedy for various diseases of the mucous membranes {Annal. de Therap., 1857, p. 61), and it has also been recommended in gout {Med. Times and Gazette, 1856, p. 591).
The root contains an essential oil of a yellow colour and agreeable odour, 2 per cent, of a balsamic resin called kawin, and about 49 per cent, of starch, also a neutral crystalline principle discovered in 1844 by Mr J. R. N. Morson, and called kavahiηe, or by Gobley methysticin. It is readily soluble in boiling alcohol, crystallizing out on cooling. Hydrochloric acid colours it red, this colour changing to yellow on exposure on the air; concentrated sulphuric acid changes it to a rich purple violet, which on exposure to the air gradually becomes green, or immediately if diluted with water. These tests distinguish it from cubebin and piperin.
See Phαrm. Jοurη,, (1) iii. 474, (2) iv. 85, (2) ix. 219, (3) vii. 149; Comptes Rendus, 1. 436, 598, lii. 206; and Jowrn. de Pharm., 1860, p. 20, and 1862, p. 218; Seemann, Flora ViUensis, p. 260.
K AVAL A, or Cavallo, a walled town of European Turkey in the vilayet of Saloniki, situated on a promontory stretching southwards into the bay of Kavala, opposite the island of Thaso. Numerous Roman remains have been found in the neighbourhood, of which the chief is the large aqueduct on two tiers of arches, which still serves to supply the town and dilapidated citadel with water from Mount Pangeus. Kavala has a port on each side of its promontory, and exports cotton and tobacco. The Turkish college was founded by Mehemet Ali, pasha of Egypt, who was born in the town in 1769. The population is about 5000.
Kavala has been identified with Neapolis, at which St Paul landed on his way from Samothrace to Philippi, 10 miles to the north (Acts xvi. 11). Neapolis was the port of Philippi, as Kavala now is of Seres; and in the bay on which it stands the fleet of Brutus and Cassius was moored during the battle of Philippi. Some authorities identify Neapolis with Datum (∆ατov), mentioned by Herodotus as famous for its gold mines.
9th ed. Encyclopædia Britannica, vol. 14, p. 18
[927 words — estimated reading time: 6 minutes]
[927 words — estimated reading time: 6 minutes]
Kavanagh
Encyclopedia Britannica
KAVANAGH, Julia (1824-1877), novelist, was born at Thurles in Tipperary, Ireland, in 1824. She was the daughter of Morgan Kavanagh, author of various philological works, and she spent several years of her early life with her parents in Normandy, laying there the foundation of a perfect mastery of the French language and practical insight into French modes of thought, which was perfected by her later frequent and long residences in France. Miss Kavanagh’s literary career began with her arrival in London about her twentieth year, and, beyond the publication of her successive works, her uneventful life with her widowed mother affords few incidents to the chronicler. On the outbreak of the Franco-German war the two ladies removed from Paris, where they were living, to Rouen. Thence they subsequently passed to Nice, where on October 28, 1877, Julia Kavanagh died, in her fiftyfourth year. She is described as having been in person extremely small, with large, luminous, brown eyes, and a wealth of splendid hair. She was a devout Roman Catholic....
Julia Kavanagh’s first book was Three Paths, 1847, a story for the young; but her first work to attract notice was Madeleine, a tale of Auvergne, 1848. A Summer and Winter in the Two Sicilies, 2 vols., 1858, was the fruit of a journey made about 1853 to France, Switzerland, and Italy. French Women of Letters, 2 vols., 1862, and English Women of Letters, 2 vols., 1863, are collections of slight biographical essays on lady novelists. She wrote also Woman in France during the 18th century, 2 vols., 1850, and Women of Christianity, 1852. But Miss Kavanagh is better known by her numerous novels and tales contributed to various magazines. The scenes of these are almost always laid in France, and the authoress handles her French themes with fidelity and skill. Her style is simple and pleasing rather than striking; her characters are interesting without being strongly individualized; and the paucity of incident in the unravelling of her plots sometimes seems to threaten monotony. Her most popular novels are perhaps Adèle, 1857; Queen Mab, 1863; and John Dorrien, 1875. Others are Nathalie, 1850; Daisy Burns, 1853; Grace Lee, 1855; Rachel Gray, 1855; Seven Years, &c., 1859; Beatrice, 1865; Sibyl's Second Love, 1867; Dora, 1868; Silvia, 1870; Bessie, 1872; The Pearl Fountain, &c. (written along with her mother), 1876; and Two Lilies, 1877. Forget-me-nots, 2 volumes of shorter tales, appeared after her death.
9th ed. Encyclopædia Britannica, vol. 14, p. 19
[410 words — estimated reading time: 3 minutes]
[410 words — estimated reading time: 3 minutes]
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