HISTORICAL.
“Among the customs peculiar to the inhabitants of the South Pacific Islands, perhaps the most noted is that of the preparation and drinking of a narcotic beverage called ava, kava, or yakona. Much of its notoriety arises from the repulsive way in which it is sometimes made. Aside from this, it is characteristic of a certain oceanic area, and seems to be as strikingly limited to this area as is the stick-and-groove method of making fire. The custom, is not confined to one ethnic stock, many notices in literature showing that both Papuans and Polynesians practise it. In many of the islands the Liquor is concocted by chewing the root of the Macropiper methysticum, or long pepper, ejecting the comminuted mass into a bowl, adding water, straining out the pulp, and drinking the fluid. In other localities it is made by simply grating the root and adding water.
“The plant from which kava is made is a shrub of the natural order Piperaceae. It is about six feet high with stems ranging from an inch to an inch and a half in thickness; the leaves are cordate and from four to eight inches long. This family is the source of the pepper of commerce and contains several species that are of medicinal and commercial importance.
In making kava, the root and base of the stem is used. The roots usually weigh from two to four pounds, though sometimes as much as 22 pounds. Several varieties are distinguished by the natives; for instance, in Tahiti there is a yellow variety called Marea; another, which becomes pink on exposure to the air, is called avini-ute.
“Chewed when freshly gathered, the root first tastes sweet and aromatic, then bitter, acrid and pungent. It provokes abundant secretion of saliva and in a few seconds occasions a sensation of burning on the tongue. The root contains about fifty percent of starch, a little pale-yellow essential oil, two percent of an acrid resin, and one percent of the neutral crystalline principle methysticin, called kavahin. To the latter principle we must attribute the toxic qualities of the kava preparation. The resin and the kavahin are insoluble in water, but are soluble in saliva and the gastric juices.
“In Samoa, the ava root is grated or chewed, then soaked, the woody pulp strained off, and the fluid drunk. The root is used either dry or green. The flavor of the liquid is at first like that of soapsuds, but immediately afterward a pleasant aromatic taste is imparted, faintly bitter, as in quinine. In Samoa, ava drinking is the accompaniment of all meetings of the men.
“Kava is at first stimulating, but the effect of an excess resembles that of opium, producing a drowsy drunkenness, lasting for two hours. The inebriate is usually peaceable, but sometimes is irritated by noises, which is attributed by natives to the use of kava grown in moist ground. The results of excess are skin disease, emaciation, and general decrepitude. The peculiar whiteness of the skin caused by kava drinking is said to be sought after in some islands as a sign that its possessor is wealthy enough to devote his time to its acquirement.
“There is some misapprehension in regard to whether the liquid undergoes fermentation before it is consumed, but it is positively known that there can be no fermentation, for the liquor is drunk immediately after the addition of water to the macerated root. Kava that is prepared by chewing is said to be more palatable, which is perhaps due to the conversion of the starch into a fermentable substance by the ptyalin of the saliva.”[1]
[1]—By Walter Hough—Reprinted from Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections—No. 1472—August 1904. “Kava Drinking as Practised by the Papuans and Polynesians.”
“In 1779 Captain King, R. N., who followed Captain Cook to the Islands, describes the case of a priest as follows ‘a little old man of an emaciated figure, his eyes exceedingly sore and red, and his body covered with a white leprous scurf, the effects of an immoderate use of ava.’ He also says, ‘The chiefs suffer dreadful effects from the immoderate use of ava. Those who are most affected by it had their bodies covered with a white scurf, their eyes red and inflamed, their limbs emaciated, their whole frame trembling and accompanied with a disability to raise the head.’”[2]
[2] “Leprosy Prize Essays,” 2nd series by Thompson and Cantile, 1897.
F. A. Griel, makes the following statement in a foot note. “The mixture is a subnarcotic, and if drunk by European sailors produces highly nauseous effects. If frequently taken a dry burning heat is produced all over the body, the eyes become red, skin peels off in flakes and then degenerates into leprous ulcers or the whole body becomes emaciated and wastes away.”[3]
[3] Miquel, Systema Piperacearum.
Numerous attempts have been made to isolate the active chemical constituent or constituents. As early as 1844 Morson discovered an active principal Kawine. This is a greenish-yellow, strongly aromatic and acrid resin. This was again studied by Cuzant in 1860.
Gobley isolated from kava root a crystalline principle (analogous to piperin), methysticin, or kavahin, which is without odor and taste and is probably inert.[4] In 1886 Lewin separated the resin into two resins, of which the Beta resin is greasy and of a reddish-brown color, appearing in mass almost black. This is less active than the alpha resin which is yellowish brown, has the characteristic odor of the drug, is freely soluble in alcohol, and placed upon the tongue produces a burning sensation followed by local anaesthesia.[5]
[4] J. P. C. Jan. 1860.
[5] A. J. P. 1886, 450.
A volatile oil has been found in the root.[6]
[6] J. P. C. March 1862.
Lavialle claimed to have obtained an alkaloid, Kavaine.[7]
[7] L’Union Pharm. Jan. 1889.
The following statement was found in “Watts Chemical Dictionary”, “Kawain—a crystalline resin occurring along with methysticin in kawa-kawa, It is not a glucoside. On oxidation it yields benzoic acid.[8]
[8] Gobley, J. Ph. (3) 37, 19.
The following statement appears in the Encyclopedia Britannica. “There appears to be little doubt that the active principle in this beverage is a poison of an alkaloidal nature. It seems likely that this substance is not present as such (i.e. as a free alkaloid) in the plant, but that it exists in the form of a glucoside, and that by the process of chewing, this glucoside is split up by one of the ferments in the saliva and the free alkaloid and sugar is formed”.
Arthur Bossingham[9] communicates the results of a chemical examination of Kava-kava. Besides the crystalline body, methysticin, which has already been described by others, he was able to isolate and identify three resins, one soluble in 5% solution of potassium carbonate, the second insoluble in this, but soluble in 5% solution of caustic potash, while the third was insoluble in both of these alkaline solvents, The ash amounts to 2.495% of the air dried root, and contained besides mere traces of Fe, Mn, mainly Calcium, Sodium and Potassium.[10]