232: 



KXPtRIMENTS ON GUM KINO. 



KiRonotagum. 



Whence It Is 

 obtained not 

 known. 



Said to be from 

 the pau de 

 fangue of Africa, 



11 fed in medi- 

 cine as a tonic. 



Yields an aque- 

 ous fluid, an oil 

 carbonic acid, 

 and carbonated 

 hidrogen. 



Its oil. 



Its aqueous 

 product. 



Its refiduvm. 



III. 



Experiments on the Subjlance vulgarly called Gum Kino. By Cix. 



VAUaUELIN *. 



A HE name given to this fubftance is by no means fuited to 

 it; and were it not a common pra6lice, to give names to things 

 before we are acquainted with their nature, it would be incon- 

 ceivable how it fliould have been called a gum, having neither 

 the phyfical nor chemical properties of one. 



Neither have we any accurate knowledge of the tree or of 

 the country that produces it; but it appears to have been firft 

 brought to Europe by the Englilh, who made known its medi- 

 cinal properties^ and introduced it into our (hops. 



It is called in trade kino or the gmu-refm of Gambia. Dr. 

 Oldfield, who made it known toFothergill, termed it the true 

 gum of Senegal. In the Medical Obfervations and Inquiries, 

 it is faid to be brought from Africa, and the tree that furniflies 

 it to be called by the nativespaw de fangue. 



As a medicine it is ufed in the form of bolufles, lozenges, 

 aqueous infufion, and fpirituous tindure, as a tonic and aftrin- 

 gent. 



Subjefled to the a6lion of fire, it melts and fwells up con- 

 . fiderably : yields at firft a clear liquor, which in a few inftants 

 becomes coloured ; a. light and nearly white oil then pafTes over, 

 which in the courfe of the procefs becomes coloured and 

 heavier than the aqueous produ6l. A fmall quantity of car- 

 bonic acid is likewife formed, with a large quantity of car- 

 bonattfd hidrogen gas. 



The oil produced in this operation unites with cauftic fixed 

 alkalis, and forms a deep red liquor, that becomes of a dull 

 green on expofure to the: air. 



The aqueous produd is not acid, but has an acrid burning 

 tafte, owing to a portion of the oil retained in folulion ; and 

 potafh feparates from it a large quantity of ammoniac. 



Twenty grammes diftilled with a ftrong heat left eight and 

 half of a very bulky coal, marked with the colours of the 

 rainbow; and this coal afforded feventy-two centigrammes of 

 athes, confining chiefly of lime, filex, alum in, and oxide of 

 iron. 



Abridged from the Annates de Chimie, 



Kino 



