CA V ifftnal men. — See Ulcers, and Warts. CAVADILLA, a plant but little known, though its seeds have long been applied externally to destroy vermin ; as they produce a con- siderable irritation in the skin. .Lately, however, the celebrated Schmucker has successfully ad- ministered these seeds internal])' for the same purpose, in the fol- lowing manner : Half a dram of the powder mixed with honey, was ordered to be taken, on an empty stomach, for five successive morn- ings ; after which he prescribed a brisk laxative. By this treatment, the cavadilla has, by several Conti- nental physicians, been observed to expel the vet-solitaire, or soli aw, a species of tape- worm extremely difficult to be removed. It is far- ther affirmed that in a variety of cases it uniformly produced that effect. CAVIAR, a species of food chiefly imported from Russia : it is made of the hard roes of the stur- geon, formed into small cak s, about an inch thick, and three or four inches in breaddi ; but some- times the whole is loosely packed up in small kegs. It is prepared by taking all the nerves or .strings out of the spawn, washing it in white wine or vinegar, spreading it on a table, then salting and press- ing it in a fine bag ; after which it is put into a vessel perforated at the bottom, to allow the moisture to run out, if any should remain. From the latest accounts pub- lished by Professor Pallas, in his Travels into the Southern Provinces of ike Russian Empire, in the years i 7 03 and 17Q4 (an English tran- slation of which, by the editor of this Encyclopaedia, is now in the press), it appears that caviar is C AV [47« made of the following three, species of fish, caught in the river Volga and the Caspian sea : .1 . Belugas, or the great sturgeon, of which there are taken annually 103,500; each fish being worth, upon an average, two rubles and a half, or from six to seven shillings sterling: the roe, or caviar, of 1000 stur- geons weighs 4000 Russian pounds, so that this number yields 414,000 pounds, and the value of each pood, or forty pounds, is generally com- puted at three rubles and a half; 2. The little sturgeon, of which there are taken every year 302,000, yielding 724,800 pounds of the roe; and 3. The Sevrugas, or Acipenser stellatus, L. the annual produce of which is not less than 1,345,000, caught in the different fisheries ; and from which 3,228,000 pounds of caviar are obtained : or from the whole number of 1, /50,500 fish, 4,36(3.800 pounds of caviar. — See also Isinglass. Pallas observes, that it would be difficult to find in the whole world, a fishery more productive to the natives, and advantageous to go- vernment, except that on the banks of Newfoundland. During the long Lent of the Greek Church, and die weekly fast-days, which together are at least four months in the year, this fishery affords the prin- cipal food to the whole European part of Russia, and its populous capitals. — No caviar was exported in British vessels till the year 1/81, and only 1040 pounds (Russian weight) of that commodity were sent to England in 1782; but the increase of this trade was so rapid, that in the following year, 40,040 lbs. j in 1784, 64,4S0lbs.; in 1785 and 1780, above 40,000 lb s. ; in 1787, nearly 64,000lbs. j in 1788, 160,000 lbs, 5 and in 1780, not less H h 4 than
