Am.  Jour.  Pharaa. ) 
August,  1903.  / 
Tincture  of  Kino. 
377 
THE  HONORARY  DEGREES    CONFERRED    ON    PROFESSOR    MAISCH  WERE  | 
Degree  of  Graduate  in  Pharmacy,  by  the  Maryland  College 
of  Pharmacy,  1 871. 
Degree  of  Doctor  in  Pharmacy,  Maryland  College  of  Pharmacy, 
1871. 
Degree  of  Master  of  Pharmacy,  by  the  Philadelphia  College  ot 
Pharmacy,  1889. 
TINCTURE  OF  KINO.1 
By  George  M.  Beringer. 
Although  kino  is  recognized  as  a  valuable  astringent  medicine, 
the  tendency  of  the  tincture  to  gelatinize  and  become  immiscible 
and  inert,  has  proven  such  an  objection  that  in  many  localities  the 
use  of  this  preparation  is  being  discouraged. 
Various  investigators  have  attributed  this  gelatinization  to  differ- 
ent constituents.  The  earlier  writers  claimed  that  it  was  due  to 
insoluble  extractive,  the  apotheme  of  Berzelius.  Subsequently,  this 
tendency  was  ascribed  to  pectin  or  pectic  acid.  Mr.  Redmond 
(American  Journal  of  Pharmacy,  XIV,  folio  259)  concluded  from 
his  experiments  that  neither  pectin  nor  pectic  acid  were  present  in 
the  gelatinous  mass  and  he  considered  the  change  due  to  the  forma- 
tion  of  "  ulmic  acid  "  or  "  humus."  More  recently,  Mr.  J.  H.  Maiden 
(American  Journal  of  Pharmacy,  1889,  folio  633)  states  that  he 
could  not  detect  gum  or  pectin  in  the  gelatinized  mass  and  writes 
that  he  "  has  little  doubt  that  this  gelatinous-looking  mass  consists 
wholly  or  mainly  of  phlobaphene."  By  direct  experiments  he  has 
shown  "that  insoluble  phlobaphenes  break  down  after  a  longer  or 
shorter  period  of  digestion  in  alcohol  and  form  a  substance  already 
likened  to  red  currant  jelly." 
A  number  of  formulas  for  tincture  ot  kino  have  been  published 
at  various  times  claiming  to  obviate  this  trouble,  and  to  attain  the 
same  purpose  the  official  formula  has  been  changed  in  the  various 
revisions  of  the  Pharmacopoeia.  These  official  changes  have  been 
in  the  direction  of  increasing  the  alcoholic  strength  of  the  menstruum 
and  the  introduction  ot  glycerin  to  the  extent  of  15  per  cent,  by 
weight  in  the  1 880  edition,  increased  in  the  1890  revision  to  15  per 
1  Presented  at  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Pennsylvania  Pharmaceutical  Asso- 
ciation, June,  1903. 
