NOTE  ON  KAVAINB  AND  METHYSTICIN. 
133 
I.  II.         III.         IV.  V.  VI. 
Carbonate  of  Potassa  43-68  24-57  15-07  56-01*  53-15  38-47 
Hydrate  of  Potassa  49-68  44-43  38-69     5-61  4-49 
Sulphate  of  Potassa  4-07  16-14  19-76  27-70  21-30  53-34f 
Chloride  of  Sodium  1-64  4-40  6-60  10-49  5-37  0-62 
Carbonate  of  Soda  4-27  4-70  14-01  6-03 
Insoluble  matter,  etc.  0-72  6-19  15  86     0-19  1-69  1-54 
I  have  not  been  able  to  ascertain  the  origin  of  No.  V.,  in 
order  to  get  a  clue  as  to  the  considerable  proportion  of  soda  ; 
but  I  shall  follow  up  the  matter,  and  probably  be  able  to  trace 
back  articles  of  that  description  to  their  place  of  make. 
36  Beekman  St.,  New  York,  Feb.  16,  1860. 
NOTE  ON  KAVAINE  AND  METHYSTICINE. 
By  the  Editor. 
The  substance  which  constitutes  the  subject  of  this  notice  is 
derived  from  the  plant  described  as  Piper  methysticum, — the 
"Cava"  of  Capt.  Cook  and  the  "Kava"  of  other  writers  and 
observers  of  the  productions  of  the  South  Sea  Islands.  The 
root  is  both  chewed  and  made  into  a  drink,  with  a  view  to  its 
exhilarating  effects  on  the  nervous  system.  The  process  of 
making  cava  as  a  beverage  is  described  graphically  by  Mariner 
in  his  History  of  the  Tonga  Islands,  and  is  quoted  by  Mr. 
Morson  in  a  notice  published  at  page  474,  vol.  3,  of  the  Pharma- 
ceutical Journal.  Recently  Dr.  S.  Weir  Mitchell  presented  us 
with  a  specimen  marked  «'  KavaYne"  which  he  had  received  from 
Dr.  Trist,  of  the  U.  S.  Navy,  who  obtained  it  at  Tahiti  from  a 
French  apothecary  at  that  place,  and  who  had  made  it  from  the 
kava.  We  were  about  to  make  an  examination  of  this  substance 
when  the  Journal  de  Pharmacie  for  January,  1860,  came  to 
hand,  in  which  M.  Gobley  has  published  some  researches  on 
the  "Kawa"  root  and  its  chemical  constituents,  among  which, 
under  the  name  of  Methysticine,  he  describes  a  crystalline  sub- 
stance which  we  at  first  supposed  to  be  the  "  Kavai'ne"  of  Dr. 
Trist. 
Methysticine  is  in  colorless  white  and  silky  needles,  has  neither 
*  Contains  1-5  per  cent,  of  silicic  acid, 
"f"  Contains  some  sulphate  of  soda. 
