FERMENTS AND ARTIFICIAL FERMENTATIONS. 83 
the sugar into alcohol and carbonic acid, and this con- 
stitutes an aérated drink, which is very agreeable when 
well made, and especially if it has been carefully 
bottled before fermentation is over. 
Kowmiss is made of soured and fermented mare’s 
milk, and is much used in Russia as a refreshing 
drink, from which an alcoholic liquor may be distilled. 
Many kinds of brandy are made from the fruits 
and seeds of different plants. Kirschwasser is the 
alcohol produced by distilling cherries or geans; rum 
is made from sugar-cane, arrack from rice. Gin, 
distilled from the juniper-berry, is largely consumed 
by the labouring classes in England, as corn-brandy is 
in the French drinking-shops. 
The savage Malay and Polynesian races prepare 
fermented liquors from the sap of various plants. 
Such is kava, made from masticated roots, and steeped 
in an infusion of Piper methysticum. In this case, 
the ptzalin, a ferment contained in the human 
saliva, transforms the fecula into a sugar susceptible 
to fermentation. The operators sit round a large 
vessel containing the roots steeped in water, and each 
man takes a piece, which he masticates conscientiously 
until it is sufficiently impregnated with the salivary 
ferment. This process is revolting to our ideas, and 
few Europeans would touch a liquor which has been 
prepared in such a way; but this is doubtless an 
educated prejudice which would not occur to a native 
of Oceana. 
