210 
Myrica  Nagi. 
A.m.  Jour.  Pharm. 
May,  1894. 
internal  remedy,  but  the  large  dose  of  60  grains  of  the  powdered 
bark  is  not  the  best  method  of  administration. 
About  five  years  ago,  Dr.  Dymock  sent  me  for  analysis  a  sample 
of  Myrica  Kino.  This  substance  occurred  in  a  granular  condition; 
it  was  of  a  dark  purplish-red  color,  hard  and  brittle  when  dry,  and 
without  any  peculiar  odor.  It  dissolved  almost  completely  in  boil- 
ing water,  but  a  flocculent  red  precipitate  separated  when  the  decoc- 
tion cooled.  A  tincture  made  with  rectified  spirit  was  of  a  fine, 
bright  red  color  and  very  acid  in  reaction.  The  tannic  acid  gave  a 
greenish  color  with  ferric  chloride,  and  was  estimated  in  a  cold 
watery  infusion  of  the  drug  with  a  solution  of  plumbic  acetate. 
The  "  Kino  "  had  the  following  composition  : 
Pure  tannic  acid,   6o'8 
Insoluble  in  water,   3*3 
Moisture,   9*8 
Ash,   10 '8 
Sugar,  etc.,   15*3 
100  "O 
The  large  amount  of  carbonated  ash  left,  on  incineration,  points  to 
the  probability  of  some  of  the  tannic  acid  existing  in  combination 
with  a  mineral  base,  and  this  was  really  so.  A  large  quantity  of  a 
substance  readily  reducing  Fehling's  test,  is  not  a  usual  constituent 
of  a  natural  astringent  secretion  like  Kino,  and  I  was  relieved  to 
find  that  the  above  substance  had  been  prepared  by  evaporating  a 
watery  extract  of  the  bark  ;  this  would  account  for  the  mineral 
matter  and  the  glucose. 
The  bark  of  Myrica  Nagi,  when  collected  from  large  trees,  is  about 
half  an  inch  thick,  extremely  scabrous,  pitted  from  the  separation 
of  pieces  of  suber,  of  a  mottled  rusty  brown  and  dirty-white  color, 
suber  warty;  substance  of  bark  and  inner  surface  of  a  dull  red 
color ;  it  yields  a  red  color  to  water ;  taste  strongly  astringent. 
Examined  microscopically,  within  the  suberous  layer  is  seen  a 
remarkable  stratum  of  stony  cells ;  the  parenchyma  throughout  is 
loaded  with  red  coloring  matter,  and  permeated  with  large  laticife- 
rous  vessels,  from  which  a  gummy  latex  exudes  when  the  bark  is 
soaked  in  water. 
Mr.  J.  Ishikawa  {Chemical  News,  December  3,  1880,  p.  275)  con- 
tributed a  paper  on  materials  containing  tannin  found  in  Japan,  and 
from  a  substance  named  "  Shibuki  "  bark  [Myrica  rubra)  he  obtained 
