194 LEGUMINOS^. 



preciable proportion ; a few drops of solution ot potash cause it to 

 assume an orange colour. An infusion of the shell of the seed is already 

 of this colour, but the tint is intensified by caustic alkali. 



The cotyledons yield to boiling ether 4- to |- per cent, of fatty oil, 

 and after exhaustion by ether and alcohol, afford to cold water 12 per 

 cent, of albuminous and mucilaginous constituents. The proportion of 

 starch according to Teich^ amounts to 48 per cent., the albuminous 

 matter to 23 per cent. The entire seed furnishes 3 per cent, of ash, 

 chiefly phosphate of potash. These constituents do not widely differ 

 in proportion from those found in the common bean, w^hich yields 23 to 

 25 per cent, of albuminous matters, and 32 to 38 per cent, of starch, 

 besides 1 to 3 per cent, of oil. 



The shells of Calabar bean are stated by Fraser to be by no means 

 devoid of active principle. 



Vee asserts that if to a solution of eserine, a little potash, lime, or 

 carbonate of sodium be added, there is developed a red colour which 

 rapidly increases in intensity. This colour is transient, passing into 

 yellow, green and blue. If chloroform is shaken with such coloured 

 solution, it takes up the colour ; ether on the other hand remains 

 uncoloured. 



Uses — Calabar has been hitherto chiefly employed as an ophthal- 

 mic medicine, for the purpose of contracting the pupil. It has however 

 been occasionally administered in tetanus and in neuralgic, rheumatic, 

 and other diseases. 



Adulteration — Other seeds are sometimes fraudulently mixed with 

 Calabar beans. We have noticed in particular those of a Mucuna and 

 of the Oil Palm, Elceis guineensis Jacq, The slightest examination 

 suffices for their detection. 



KINO. 



Kino, Gum Kino, East Indian Kino ; F. and G. Kino. 



Botanical Origin — Pterocarpus Marsupiuni Eoxb., a handsome 

 tree 40 to 80 feet high, frequent in the central and southern parts of the 

 Indian Peninsula and also in Ceylon, and affording a valuable timber. 

 In the Government forests of the Madras Presidency, it is one of the 

 reserved trees, the felling of which is placed under restrictions. 



Pt. indicus Willd., a tree of Southern India, the Malayan Peninsula 

 and the Indian and Philippine Islands, is capable of yielding kino, and 

 is the source of the small supplies of that drug that were formerly 

 shipped from Moulmein. 



Several other plants afford substances bearing the name of Kivo, 

 which will be noticed at the conclusion of the present article. 



History — The introduction of kino into European medicine is due 

 to Fothergill, an eminent physician and patron of economic botany of 

 the last century. The drug which Fothergill examined was brought 



^ Chemhche Uniersuchung der Calabar- matters with reference to TeicWs analysis, 

 hohne. — Inauguralsehrift, St. Petersburg, which proved the kernels to contain 3 "0,") 

 1837. We calculate the albuminous per cent, of nitrogen. 



