Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 14.djvu/28

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18 K A U K A V in the Tower of Babel the severity of the antique gives place to the suavity of the Italian renaissance ; while in the Crusades the composition is let loose into modern romanticism, and so the manner descends into the midst of the 19th century. And yet this scholastically compounded art is so nicely adjusted and smoothly blended that it casts off all incongruity and becomes homogeneous as the issue of one mind. But a fickle public craved for change ; and so the great master in later years waned in favour, and had to witness, not without inquietude, the rise of an opposing party of naturalism and realism. Yet few men have had a brighter career, or enjoyed a reward better earned. Kaulbach s works are monu mental, and will be handed down to future ages as the highest products of the renaissance of the arts in modern Germany. ( J. B. A. ) KAUNITZ, WENZEL ANTON (1711-1794), count of Rietberg, Austrian statesman, was born at Vienna, Feb ruary 2, 1711. As the fifth and youngest son of an Austrian count, he was destined at first for the church, but on the death of his brothers he turned his attention to statesmanship. He was sent by Maria Theresa on em bassies to Rome and Florence, and was engaged at Turin in strengthening the alliance between Austria, Sardinia, and Great Britain against the Bourbons. In the meantime he had acquired the countship of Rietberg by marriage. In 1744 he was sent as minister to the court of the duke of Lorraine, governor-general of the Austrian Netherlands. During the duke s absence, Kaunitz administered affairs ably; and, when the French besieged Brussels in 1746, he secured a free retreat for the Austrian troops to Antwerp. After a brief retirement on account of his health, Kaunitz reappeared on the political stage at the congress of Aix-la- Chapelle io. 1748, where he laid the foundation of his reputation, and earned the rank of minister of state. During his stay as ambassador at Paris, from 1750 to 1752, he concluded a secret alliance between Austria and France, a diplomatic stroke which involved the complete reversal of the former hostile attitude of the two powers, and which was rewarded by his appointment as chancellor of state or prime minister. In 1756 he was made chancellor of the Netherlands and of Italy. For nearly forty years he continued in this capacity to direct the affairs of Austria, steadily cultivating the French and Russian alliances, and jealously watching the rising power of Prussia, against which he formed the coalition of 1756. At the partition of Poland in 1772 he secured Galicia for Austria; and it was during his ministry also that Bukowina (1776) and the so-called " Inn quarter" came under the Austrian crown. He enjoyed the unbounded confidence of Maria Theresa, and was an active agent in furthering the reforms under her and her son Joseph II. He showed himself a liberal patron of education and art, as well as an accom plished statesman. Under Joseph II. and Leopold II. his influence waned, and he resigned all his offices at the accession of Francis II. in 1792. In 1764 he was created a prince of the empire. He died June 27, 1794. See the life by Hormayr in the Ocsterreichischer Plutarch, and Denkschri/ten des Fursten Kaunitz, Vienna, 1872, by Beer. 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 cafe au la.it 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, how ever, 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 con junctiva, 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 " IHossom," 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 kavahine, 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 Pharm. Journ., (1) iii. 474, (2) iv. 85, (2) ix. 219, (3) vii. 149 ; Comptcs Rendus, 1. 436, 598, Iii. 206 ; and Journ. de Pharm., 1860, p. 20, and 1862, p. 218 ; Seemann, Flora Vitiensis, p. 260. KAVALA, 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 promon tory, and exports cotton and tobacco. The Turkish college