Am.  Jour.  Pharm.l 
October,  1897.  / 
Kinos. 
533 
Approximate  quantitative  results  may  be  obtained  in  the  exami- 
nation of  unknown  powders  by  the  methods  given.  There  are  some 
cases,  at  least,  where  the  quantitative  determinations  of  admixtures 
and  adulterations,  if  they  are  to  be  determined  at  all,  can  be  done 
so  only  by  means  of  a  microscopical  method. 
It  is  possible  that  a  microscopical  separation  of  active  principles 
may  be  effected  of  both  drugs  as  well  as  their  preparations.  This 
would  be  the  desideratum  in  quantitative  microscopical  work.  Thus 
far,  the  work  of  the  author  has  been  unsatisfactory  in  this  direction, 
because,  while  at  times  results  come,  still  the  products  disappear  as 
quickly,  owing  no  doubt  to  microscopic  conditions  of  heat  and 
moisture  altering  the  products  formed. 
KINOS.1 
By  Joseph  Bosisto,  C.M.G. 
The  question  whether  the  place  of  the  official  variety  of  kino, 
which  is  now  almost  unobtainable,  can  be  effectively  supplied  by 
others  met  with  in  commerce  (B.P.C.  Blue  List,  No.  49),  is  answered 
from  Victoria,  Australia,  to  the  following  extent.  Although  the 
Pterocarpus  marsupium,  and  other  species  of  the  natural  order  Legu- 
minosse  yielding  kino,  are  not  known  to  exist  in  Australia,  yet  the 
natural  order  Myrtaceae,  which  exists  throughout  Australia,  contains 
many  species  which  exude  kinos  and  some  catechus.  Those  have 
not,  so  far  (save  and  except  one),  been  found  of  commercial  value, 
owing  to  their  sparse  solubility  in  water,  and  in  all  other  known 
cheap  solvents.  This  arises  from  the  gum  kino  not  being  collected 
within  a  few  days  after  its  appearance  on  the  outer  bark.  The 
extreme  bright  sunlight  of  Australia,  together  with  the  warm  ther- 
mal lines  existing  both  night  and  day,  causes  it  rapidly  to  degenerate 
into  a  degraded  bassorin,  which  is  insoluble. 
Quantities  of  such  kinos  exist  throughout  Australia,  obtainable 
chiefly  from  Eucalyptus  marginata,  E.  amygdalina,  E.  sideroxylon, 
E.  fissilis,  and  many  others.  The  one  I  have  already  indicated  is 
Eucalyptus  rostrata,  from  which  is  exported  annually  about  two 
tons  of  its  gum;  this  is  almost  entirely  soluble  in  water,  and  is  a  true 
kino.  It  is  mentioned  in  Squire's  "  Companion  to  the  B.P.,"  1882, 
and  in  Martindale's  "  Extra  Pharmacopoeia,"  as  gummi  rubrum  from 
Eucalyptus  rostrata. 
1 Pharmaceutical  Journal,  August  28,  1897. 
