KINO. 195 



from the river Gambia in West Africa as a lare sort of Dragon's Blood, 

 and was described by him in 1757^ under the name of Gummi riLhrum 

 asfrivgens Gariihiense. It had been noticed at least twenty years before 

 as a production of the Gambia, by Moore, factor to the Roj'al African 

 Company, who says that the tree yielding it is called in the Mandingo 

 language Kano.^ Specimens of this tree were sent to England in 1805 

 by the celebrated traveller Mungo Park, and recognized some years 

 later as identical with the Pterocarpiis erinaceus of Poire t. 



It seems probable that African kino continued to reach England for 

 some years, for we find "Gummi ruhriiin astringens " regularly valued 

 in the stock of a London druggist^ from 1776 to 1792. 



Duncan in the Edinburgh Dispensatory of 1803, while asserting that 

 " Jcino is brought to us from Africa," admits that some,not distinguishable 

 from it, is imported from Jamaica. In a later edition of the same work 

 (1811), he says that the African drug is no longer to be met with, and 

 alludes to its place being supplied by other kinds, as that of Jamaica, 

 that imported by the East India Company, and that of New South Wales 

 derived from Eucohjptus resinifera Sm. It will thus be seen that at the 

 commencement of the present century several substances, produced in 

 widely distant regions, bore the name of Kino. That however which was 

 principally used in the place of the old African drug, was East Indian 

 Kino, the botanical origin of which was shown by Wight and by Royle^ 

 (1844-46) to be Pterocarpus Marsupviim^oxh., — a tree which, curiously 

 enough, is closely allied to the kino tree of Tropical Africa. 



This is the drug which is recognized as legitimate kino in all the 

 principal pharmacopoeias of Europe. It appears to have been first pre- 

 pared for the European market in the early part of the present century, 

 on a plantation of the East India Company called Anjarakandy, a few 

 miles from Tellicherry on the Malabar Coast ; but as we learn from our 

 friend Dr. Cleghorn, it was not grown there but on the ghats a short 

 distance inland. 



Extraction — Kino is the juice of the tree, dried without artificial 

 heat.* As it exudes, it has the appearance of red currant jelly, but 

 hardens in a few hours after exposure to the air. In the Government 

 forests of the Malabar Coast whence the supplies are obtained, permis- 

 sion to collect the drug is granted on payment of a small fee, and on 

 the understanding that the tapping is performed skilfully and without 

 damage to the timber. The method pursued is this : — A perpendicular 

 incision with lateral ones leading into it, is made in the trunk, at the 

 foot of which is placed a vessel to receive the outflowing juice. This 

 juice soon thickens, and when sufficiently dried by exposure to the sun 

 and air, is packed into wooden boxes for exportation. 



Description — Malabar kino® consists of dark, blackish-red, angular 



^Medical Observations and Inquiries, i. * Pliarin, Journ. v. (1846)495. 



(1757) 358. ^ Cleghorn, Forests and Gardens of South 



- Travels into the Inland Parts of Africa, India, 1861. 13. — Also from information 



by Francis Moore, Lend. 1737. pp. 160. 209. communicated by him orally. 

 267. ® Our sample obtained from P(. Marsu- 



^ J. Gumey Bevan, Plough Court, Lom- pium Roxb. on the Sigur Ghat, Feb. 1868, 



bard Street. — The drug was priced in 1 787 was kindly submitted to us by Mr. 



as having cost Ids., and in 1790-92, 21.s. Mclvor of Ootacamund.— We find it to 



per lb. agree with commercial East Indian Kino. 



