KINO 245 



reddish-brown, pale brownish-gray or light brown; fracture dull- 

 earthy, friable, crystalline; inodorous, bitterish, very astringent with 

 a sweetish after-taste. 



Not less than 70 per cent, should be soluble in alcohol; the ash 

 should not be more than 5 per cent., and starch should not be 

 present. 



CONSTITUENTS. Mainly catechu-tannic acid, 45 to 55 per cent., which 

 does not produce gallic acid on exposure to air as does the tannin of 

 galls; it is turned blackish-green by ferric salts. Catechin is an inter- 

 esting principle which, by dry distillation, yields pyrocatechin, or 

 catechol, C 6 H 6 O 2 , which, with ferric chloride, gives a dark green color 

 by ammonia changing to violet. Ash, not more than 9 per cent. 



Preparation of Catechin. On allowing the decoction of catechu to stand several 

 days, crude catechin is deposited. This deposit is purified to white silky needles 

 by dissolving in dilute alcohol, washing with ether, and evaporating from hot 

 aqueous solution. It has a sweetish taste, is precipitated by albumen, but not by 

 gelatin. 



ACTION AND USES. A powerful astringent like kino. Dose: 8 to 30 gr. 

 (0.5 to 2 Gm.). 



OFFICIAL PREPARATION. 



Tinctura Gambir Composita (5 per cent., 



with saigon cinamnon 2.5 per cent.), . . Dose: 15 to 60 ITU (i to 4 mils). 



258. KINO. KINO 



KINO 

 The spontaneously inspissated juice of Pterocar'pus marsu'pium (Roxburgh). 



BOTANICAL CHARACTERISTICS. A leafy tree 40 to 80 feet high, with reddish-brown 

 bark. Leaflets 5 to 7, coriaceous, dark green, shining, 3 to 5 inches long. 

 Flowers yellowish-white. Legume woody, indehiscent. 



SOURCE. East Indies. We have several varieties other than the Malabar 

 (East India), the official kind as described above namely, African 

 or Gambia kino (P. erinaceus), Palas or Bengal kino (Butea frondosa) , 

 Botany Bay or Eucalyptus kino (E. amygdalina), from Australia, and 

 West Indian or Jamaica kino (Coccoloba tivifera). These all furnish 

 extractives known as kino. 



A new kind of kino from the juice of the bark of several kinds of 

 Asiatic Myristica has been noticed, differing from the Malabar by 

 containing, in the crude state, calcium tartrate. By this character- 

 istic it may easily be distinguished from the official and other kinos 

 of the market. 



DESCRIPTION OF DRUG. Small, dark reddish-brown, shining, angu- 

 lar fragments, much lighter and nearly transparent in thin layers. 

 Adheres to the teeth when chewed, and colors the saliva a deep red; 



