ON EUCALYPTUS KINOS. 91 



On EUCALYPTUS KINOS, their VALUE for TINC- 

 TURES, and the NON-GELATINIZATION of the 

 PRODUCT OF CERTAIN SPECIES. 



By Henry G. Smith, f.c.s., Assistant Curator, 

 Technological Museum, Sydney. 



[Bead before the Royal Society of N.8. Wales, August 3, 1904.'] 



The greatest objection to the kino of Pterocarpus mar- 

 supium is the tendency it has to gelatinize when made 

 into tinctures. Many methods have been advanced at one 

 time or another to overcome this difficulty, but in most 

 cases with doubtful success, as at present more than one 

 Pharmaceutical Association is requesting a formula for 

 tincture of kino that will keep. From the results of this 

 investigation it appears that the best way to overcome 

 this difficulty is to discard Pterocarpus kino altogether, 

 and to use those Eucalyptus kinos that do not gelatinize 

 in tinctures. Pharmacists need not be troubled with 

 gelatinized tincture of kino no matter how long it is kept. 



In the Pharmaceutical Journal (1841-2, p. 399) there is 

 a paper by Mr. Redwood which is well worth reading by 

 those interested in this matter. He there discusses the 

 formation and constitution of this gelatinous substance, 

 and calls attention to the statement by Dr. Thomson that 

 the product of Eucalyptus resin if era 1 has the property of 

 forming a tincture which gelatinizes on keeping. Dr. Pereira 

 also states that when gelatinized tincture of kino occurs, 

 that probably the Botany Bay kino (inspissated juice of 

 Eucalyptus resinifera) had been employed (4th Edition, 



1 Eucalyptus resinifera, as we know it to day, has practically a Stringy 

 Bark, and the " Ironbark " kinos (as E. siderophloia) consist largely of 

 Emjphloin and do not dissolve in alcohol. 



