243 
ORIGINAL AND EXTRACTED ARTICLES. 
ON THE TINCTURES OE CATECHU, KINO, AND KRAMERIA 
OF THE BRITISH PHARMACOPOEIA. 
BY WALTER G. SMITH, M.B. T.C.D., 
ASSISTANT PHYSICIAN TO THE ADELAIDE HOSPITAL, DUBLIN. 
In the first edition of the British Pharmacopoeia, published in 1864, fifty- 
six tinctures were included in the body of the work, and in the last edition 
(1867), nine new members have been added to this class, thus extending the 
list to sixty-five. 
When the large number and great variety in the characters and properties 
of this important galenical group are considered, it appears of some moment 
to examine them in detail in order to ascertain whether they can be readily 
distinguished by means easily applied and promptly executed. 
That the tinctures can be distinguished one from another I have to a cer¬ 
tain extent ascertained by numerous experiments, but as I am not yet pre¬ 
pared to enter on the consideration of the entire group, I shall at present 
direct attention only to what may be termed a natural trio, so closely related 
to each as are the tinctures of catechu, kino, and rhatany. 
The late Professor Guibourt, in his ‘ Histoire Abregee des Drogues sim¬ 
ples,’ 3me. edit. t. ii. p. 434, Paris, 1836, gives a comparative table of the 
action of the ten following reagents :—litmus, alcohol, lime-water, nitric acid, 
gelatine, sulphate of iron, tartar emetic, acetate of lead, oxalate of ammonia, 
and nitrate of barium, on solutions obtained by treating with twenty-four 
parts of boiling water, two kinds of catechu, three of kino, and one of kra- 
meria. 
Very little as regards their distinctive characters can be deduced from his 
elaborate table, and it would require the skill of a careful experimenter to 
distinguish the three astringents by the tests he employed. 
It will be convenient, as a preliminary, to give in a tabular form the mode 
of preparation of the three tinctures as enjoined by the British Pharmacopoeia. 
Tinctures. 
Ingredients. 
Strength. 
Prepared by. 
Catechu . . 
Pale Catechu . . . 
. oz. 2^ ) 
Cinnamon Bark . . . 
. oz. 1 > 
1 in 8 
Maceration 
Proof spirit .... 
Kino . . . 
Kino. 
Rectified spirit . . . 
. pint 1 ) 
1 in 10 
t 
Maceration. , 
Krameria . . 
Rhatany root . . . 
Proof spirit .... 
. oz. 2^ ) 
. pint 1 j 
1 in 8 
Maceration and 
percolation. | 
The mode by which I propose to distinguish these tinctures is based on 
their behaviour when diluted with distilled water in a test-tube half an inch 
in diameter, and on the result of evaporating a few drops of each tincture on 
glass. 
It is important to mention that the tinctures experimented on have been 
derived from three distinct sources, each of them independent establishments, 
and whose reputation is a guarantee of the purity of their preparations ; one, 
an eminent London house, the other two, well known in Dublin. 
In the case of tincture of kino especially, it is necessary that a fresh 
