AmDe°cU,ri8^9arm'}     Botany  Bay  or  Eucalyptus  Kino.  633 
the  term  "resinifera"  would  by  right  belong.  Probably  to  E. 
corymbosa.    But  the  name  should  be  suppressed. 
Gelatinization  of  Tincture  of  Kino. — The  gelatinization  of  tinc- 
ture of  kino,  by  which  it  forms  a  substance  like  red-currant  jelly,  and 
more  or  less  devoid  of  astringency,  remains  an  unsettled  question, 
although  it  has  often  been  alluded  to  in  journals  devoted  to  pharmacy1 
during  the  last  half  century.  Pereira  following  Thomson,  and  most 
other  writers  on  materia  medica  following  Pereira,  state  that  where 
gelatinization  takes  place,  " Botany  Bay  Kino"  has  been  used,  by 
which  is  meant,  as  I  have  already  shown,  any  of  the  kinos  belonging 
to  perhaps .40  or  50  species. 
I  have  had  over  seventy  eucalyptus  and  angophora  kinos  in  spirit 
(to  make  tinctures  of  B.  P.  strength),  for  periods  varying  from  a  few 
days  to  twelve  months,  and  have  drawn  the  following  conclusions  : — 
(1)  Tinctures  do  not  gelatinize  if  made  from  new  kinos.  By  the  word 
new  "  I  mean  under  one  or  two  years  old.  (2)  No  kinos  gelatinize 
other  than  the  clear  ruby  ones.  Five  very  old  ruby  kinos  on  which 
I  experimented  gelatinized  in  a  month  or  two,  (3)  All  kinos  entirely 
soluble  in  spirit  are  ruby  ones. 
Whatever  the  cause  of  gelatinization  may  be,  or  rather,  whatever 
the  substance  may  be  which,  when  formed,  causes  gelatinization,  my 
experiments  show  that  no  chemist  need  have  gelatinized  tincture  of 
kino  if  he  chooses  to  avoid  it.  Old  ruby  kinos  should  be  rejected  for 
the  purpose  of  tincture  making.  In  the  case  of  a  member  of  the 
Ruby  group,  if  the  kino  is  not  completely  and  readily  soluble  in  cold 
water,  forming  a  clear  ruby  solution,  with  no  gelatinous  ruby-colored 
residue  of  phlobaphene,  it  should  be  rejected.  My  tinctures  were 
made  in  March,  1888,  and  perhaps  sufficient  time  has  not  elapsed  to 
justify  one  in  being  dogmatic  on  the  matter,  but  I  will  engage  to 
report  these  samples  in  another  year  or  two. 
The  writer  has  little  doubt  that  this  gelatinous  looking  mass  con- 
sists wholly  or  mainly  of  softened  phlobaphenes.  By  direct  experi- 
ment he  has  shown  that  insoluble  phlobaphenes  break  down  after  a 
longer  or  shorter  period  of  digestion  in  alcohol,  and  form  the  sub- 
stance already  likened  to  red-currant  jelly.  The  subject  will  bear 
further  inquiry,  but  certainly  he  cannot  detect  gum,  or  the  somewhat 
unsatisfactory  pectin  in  the  gelatinized  mass. — Phar.  Jour,  and  Trans., 
October  26,  1889. 
aCf.  Pharm.  Jourrc,  i,  399  ;  [3],  x,  232. 
