CASSAVA CASSINI. 



June 21, 1819, a court of revision and cassation was 

 established at Berlin (consisting of a president and 

 tixtet n judges, among whom is professor Savigny), 

 which has under it the court of appeal at Dusseldorf 

 (consisting of a president, together with thirty-two 

 other officers), and six district courts (the former re- 

 sembling the French royal courts, tin- latter the 

 French tribunals of original jurisdiction), bee Ap- 

 peal', Writs of Error, ami Court*. 



CASSAVA, or CASSADA. The cassava or cas- 

 sada (jatropha manihot) is a South American shr.il>, 

 about three feet in height, with broad, shilling. 

 and somewhat hand-sltaped leaves, and beautiful 

 white and rose-coloured flowers. It is a very remark- 

 able circumstance, that the roots of the cassava, if 

 eaten raw, are a fatal poison, both to man and beast, 

 and Uiat, when prepared by heat, they yield a safe 

 and valuable food ; on which, indeed, many both of 

 the Indian and European inhabitants of South Ame- 

 rica, almost wholly subsist. The roots are the only 

 edible parts of tin- plant. These are white, soft, and 

 farinaceous, from one to two feet in length, and five 

 or six inches in circumference. They are dug out of 

 the earth, washed, stripped of their rind, and ground 

 to a pulp. The juice, or poisonous part, is carefully 

 pressed out, and thrown away ; since cattle and other 

 animals, wluch have accidentally drank of it, have 

 almost instantly died. The flour that remains after 

 pressure, is formed into thin, round cakes, and baked. 

 To a European, accustomed to eat bread, these, 

 though sweetish and not unpalatable, have an insipid 

 taste. If placet! in close vessels, and preserved from 

 the attacks of insects, cassava bread may be kept for 

 several months without injury. With the natives of 

 South America, it is not unusual to throw a great 

 number of cakes of cassava together to heat ; after 

 which they soak them in water, which causes a rapid 

 fermentation to take place ; and, from the liquor 

 thus obtained, they make a very sharp and disagree- 

 able, but intoxicating beverage, which will not keep 

 longer than twenty-tour hours without spoiling. 

 From the pure flour of cassava is formed the sub- 

 stance called tapioca, which is frequently used for 

 jelly, puddings, and other culinary purposes. This 

 is separated from the fibrous part of the roots by tak- 

 ing a small quantity of the pulp, after the juice is ex- 

 tracted, and working it in the hand till a thick, white 

 cream appears on the surface. This, being scraped 

 off and washed in water, gradually subsides to the 

 bottom. After the water is poured off, the remain- 

 ing moisture is dissipated by a slow fire, the substance 

 being constantly stirred, until, at length, it forms in- 

 to grains about the size of sago. These become hard 

 by keeping, and are the purest and most wholesome 

 part of the cassava. The roots of another species of 

 this shrub, called sweet cassava, are usually eaten 

 with butter, after being roasted in hot ashes. They 

 liave much the flavour of chestnuts, and are an agree- 

 able and nutritive food. 



CASSEL, the residence of the elector of Hesse 

 Cassel, lies on the Fulda ; lat. 51 19' 20" N. ; Ion. 

 9 u 35' 18" E. ; and lias 1586 houses and 23,300 inha- 

 bitants, among whom are 500 Jews. One part of 

 the city is quite regular. The river Fulda is naviga- 

 ble at this place. The situation renders the climate 

 pure and healthy. It has nineteen squares, nine 

 churches, and many public buildings, containing 

 highly valuable libraries, collections of works of art, 

 c. The gallery of paintings contains some famous 

 masterpieces. An observatory is likewise situated 

 here. The city was much embellished under the 

 government of Jerome, king of Westphalia, whose 

 capital it was till the dissolution of this kingdom, in 

 October, 1813. The old elector again took posses- 

 sion of it, Nov. 21, 1813. About a league distant is 



the summer palace, called Wilhelmshohe. Cassel has 

 considerable manufactories. 



CASSEL (Hesse-Cassel). See Hesse. 



CASSIA. Wild cinnamon, or cassia, is the bark 

 of a tree of the bay tribe (laurus cassia), which grows 

 in the East Indies and China, and is distinguished by 

 having spear-slmped leaves, each with three nerves. 

 This bark was well known to the ancients, and high- 

 ly esteemed by them. But since the use of cinnamon 

 lias been generally adopted, the cassia bark lias fal- 

 len into disrepute, on account of its inferiority. It is 

 thicker and more coarse than cinnamon, of weaker 

 quality, ami abounds more with a viscid, mucilugi- 

 nous matter. For many purposes, cassia, as being 

 much less expensive, is substituted for cinnamon, but 

 more particularly for the preparation of what is call 

 ed oil of cinnamon ; ami nearly the whole of \vluu\to 

 at present sold under the name either of simple or 

 spirituous cinnamon waters, is prepared from cassia. 

 The buils as well as the Ixirk of this tree are used in 

 cooking, &c. Cassia is imported mostly from China. 



CASSINA. See Cas/tna. 



CASSINI ; a name famous in the history of astro- 

 nomy and geography for three generations. 



1. Giovanni Domenico, born July 8, 1625, at Perin- 

 aldo, near Nice, studied at Genoa with the Jesuits. 

 Chance turned his attention to astronomy, in which 

 he made such rapid progress, tlit, in 1 650, the senate 

 of Bologna bestowed on him the first professorship 

 of astronomy at the university. A meridian had 

 been drawn by Ignatio Dante (1575), in the church 

 of St. Petronia, in tliat city. In 1653, Cassini con- 

 ceived the idea of extending and correcting it. In 

 two years he completed this difficult task, the first 

 fruits of which were more correct tables of the siui, 

 a more precise determination of its parallax, and an 

 excellent table of refractions. By an observation at 

 Citta della Piave, he discovered the sliadows cast by 

 the satellites of Jupiter on the disk of that planet, 

 when they are between it and the sun. By means 

 of these, he corrected his theory of the motion of the 

 satellites, and determined the period of Jupiter's re- 

 volution. At the same time, he made a number of 

 observations on insects, which were published by 

 Aldrovandi. In 1668, he published his Ephemerides 

 of the Satellites of Jupiter. In 1673, Colbert pre- 

 vailed on him to settle in France. He discovered 

 four new satellites of Saturn, and the zodiacal light 

 proved tliat the axis of the moon is not perpendicular 

 to the plane of the ecliptic, and showed the causes of 

 her libration. The laws of this motion, which he de- 

 termined with much accuracy, are one of his finest 

 discoveries. He also wrote observations on the In- 

 dian calendar. The meridian commenced by Picard 

 and Laliire was continued by Cassini, in 1700, to the 

 extreme limits of Roussillon, and, when measured IOO 

 years later, showed a difference of only twenty-one 

 toises. He died Sept. 14, 1712, Iiaving lost his sight 

 some years before. Lalande gives a catalogue ofnis 

 writings in the Biltl. Astronom. His first work was Ob- 

 serv. Cometie,Anni 165253 (Modena, 1653, fol.). 

 His Opp. Astronom. (Rome, 1666) contain a complete 

 collection of his earlier works. His nephew, Cassini 

 de Thury, has published his biography, written by 

 Cassini himself, under the title Memoires pour servir 

 a I' Hist, ties Sciences (4to). 



2. James, son of the preceding, born at Paris, Feb. 

 18, 1677, was admitted into the academy of sciences 

 in 1694. After several essays on subjects in natural 

 philosophy, &c. , he completed his great work on the 

 inclinations of the orbits of Saturn's satellites and 

 ring. His labours to determine the figure of the 

 earth (q.v.) are well known. The first measurement 

 of 1669 made the degrees of the meridian shorter to- 

 wards the north tlian towards the south ; whence it 



