THE
IMPERIAL DICTIONARY
OF
UNIVERSAL BIOGRAPHY:
A SERIES OF ORIGINAL MEMOIRS.
KAAB or CAAB, an Arab poet who lived in the time of Mahomet, and died in the first year of the Hegira. When his brother Bodjair embraced the new religion Kaab declared himself against it, and published a poem against Mahomet, who revenged himself by giving out that mussulmans might put the sons of Zohair out of the way. This excited Kaab's fears; and to reconcile himself to the prophet, he composed a poem, called "Banat Soad" from its first two words, in which Mahomet and his doctrines were commended. Mahomet heard it with pleasure, pardoned the poet, and threw his mantle upon him, in consequence of which the piece was called "Cacidat el Borda" (Poem of the Mantle). It has been several times published.—B. H. C.
KABEL, Adrian van der. See Cabel.
KADLUBEG or KADLUBEK, Vincent, a Polish historian, born in 1161, and died in 1223. In 1208 he became bishop of Cracovia, an office which he resigned in 1218. His "Historia Polonica," although written in an uncouth style, is a valuable work. It is partly a compilation, and ends at 1202.—B. H. C.
KAEMPFER, Engelbrecht, a German physician and a distinguished traveller, was born at Lemgo in Westphalia on 16th September, 1651, and died in the same town on 2nd November, 1716. His early studies were carried on at Hameln in the duchy of Brunswick, and he afterwards studied at Luneburg, Hamburg, and Lubeck. Subsequently he went to Poland, and passed surgeon. At Königsberg he also prosecuted the study of medicine and natural science. He visited Sweden, where he was urged to settle; but his desire for travelling made him refuse the most tempting offers. On 26th March, 1683 (o.s.), he departed for Stockholm, and visited Moscow, Finland, Novgorod, and other parts of Russia; and finally along with Fabricius, the Swedish ambassador, he departed for Persia, passing on his way Kazan and Astrakan, and embarking on the Caspian sea. On reaching Persia he prosecuted his botanical researches with vigour, and made large additions to the flora of that part of the world. He visited Chamakhi, Ispahan, and other parts of Persia, along with the ambassador, and thus had great facilities for prosecuting science. When the Swedish ambassador had accomplished his mission, he prepared to return; but Kæmpfer remained and entered the service of the Dutch East India Company. He visited the Persian gulf, Persepolis, and Shiraz. He was attacked, however, with severe and dangerous illness at Bender-Abbassi near the entrance of the Persian gulf, and was detained there a considerable time. At this time he drew up his "Amœnitates Exoticæ," in which he gave an account of the productions of Persia, and noticed especially the asafœtida plant. He also wrote a monograph of the date-palm. Leaving Bender-Abbassi in June, 1688, he went to Arabia Felix, the coasts of Malabar, Ceylon, Bengal, Sumatra, and Java. From the latter island he went to Batavia in 1689, and remained there seven and a half months. During all this time he made large collections of plants, many of which are now deposited in the British museum. He paid special attention to the economical and medicinal products of the countries which he visited, and he has given interesting accounts of them in his writings. In 1690 he went as surgeon of a Dutch East Indiaman to Japan, where he acquired much information as to the language and habits of the people, and made extensive collections of plants. On 10th February, 1691, he went to Jeddo, and continued his valuable researches. Thence in 1692 he returned to Batavia. In 1693 he left Java, and returned to Europe by the Cape of Good Hope, reaching Amsterdam in October of that year. In 1694 he took the degree of doctor of medicine at the university of Leyden, and in his thesis gave some account of the medical and scientific results of his travels. In 1700 he married, but the union was said not to have been a happy one. At the age of sixty he published his great work "Amœnitates Exoticæ." He died from hæmatemesis and fever at the age of sixty-five, and his remains were deposited in the cathedral of St. Nicolas at Lemgo. The manuscripts of Kæmpfer got into the possession of Sir Hans Sloane, who published his "History of Japan and Siam" in English. It was afterwards translated into French, Dutch, and German. Kæmpfer's other manuscripts are deposited in the British museum, with the collections of Sloane. From these MSS. were published "Icones Selectæ Plantarum Japoniæ," with eighty-nine plates, London, folio, 1791.—J. H. B.
KAESTNER, Abraham Gotthelf, a German mathematician and astronomer, was born at Leipsic on the 27th of September, 1719, and died at Göttingen on the 20th of June, 1800. At the university of Leipsic he studied jurisprudence under his father, and mathematics under Professor Hansen, and acquired extensive literary and scientific learning through being permitted access to the library of his uncle, G. R. Pommer, an eminent advocate. In 1739 he became a tutor in his university. He first became known as an astronomer through the observations made by himself and his friend Baumann of the comet of 1742, with a telescope which they had themselves repaired. Kaestner and Baumann afterwards made great progress in the art of manufacturing large and powerful telescopes. In 1744 Kaestner discovered for the first time the "faculæ," or bright spots, on the disc of the sun. In 1746 he was appointed extraordinary professor of mathematics at Leipsic, and in 1756 professor of mathematics in the university of Göttingen, and director of the observatory. In the same year he married his friend Baumann's sister, who died in 1758. Soon afterwards he married a French officer's widow, by whom he had an only daughter; she married Kirsten, an old friend of her father's. This couple had a son, noted as a prodigy of precocious learning, who died at the age of two years. Kaestner, together with Heyne, revived the Literary Society of Göttingen, which had fallen into decay. Many of his papers on mathematical subjects were afterwards published in its Transactions. He wrote several elementary treatises on branches of mathematical science, and translated many scientific works. His own greatest work was a history of mathematics, brought down to the middle of the seventeenth century.—W. J. M. R.
KAHLER, Wigand or John, a Lutheran divine, professor of poetry, mathematics, and divinity at Rinteln, was born at Wolmar in Hesse-Cassel on the 30th of January, 1649, and died on the 17th of May, 1729. He published at Rinteln in 1700 and 1711 "Dissertationes Juveniles."—D. W. R.
