Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  1 
Sept.  l,  1873.  j 
Tincture  of  Kino. 
39& 
izing.  Numerous  remedies  have  from  time  to  time  been  proposed 
namely,  it  was  thought  that  the  addition  of  logwood  could  prevent 
the  change  ;  alkalies  were  also  tried,  but  they  change  the  tannin  and 
destroy  the  astringency-  Glycerin  came  in  for  its  share,  perhaps 
with  good  effect,  and  filtration  through  magnesium  carbonate  was 
also  suggested.  The  application  of  sugar  has  so  far  not  yet  been 
made ;  and  since  the  sugar  does  not  prevent  an  abundant  precipita- 
tion, in  syrup  of  blackberry,  it  will  perhaps  be  of  little  use  here.  But 
all  concur  that  an  aqueous  solution  is  above  all  others  the  most  objec- 
tionable. 
In  the  administration  of  these  remedies,  a  large  proportion  of  alco- 
hol is  objectionable  ;  nevertheless,  alcohol  is  by  all  means  and  pre- 
eminently the  best  solvent  and  most  efficient  preservative  of  tannin 
and  its  varieties.  The  writer  takes  occasion  to  propose  it  here  a& 
emphatically  preferable  to  any  other  menstruum,  and  the  stronger  the- 
alcohol,  the  better  it  conforms  to  the  object  in  view. 
Strong  alcohol  exhausts  kino  more  rapidly  and  efficiently  than  any- 
other  solvent,  and  the  solution  never  gelatinizes,  as  it  seems  that  the 
presence  of  water,  together  with  a  pectase-like  substance,  causes  the- 
deterioration  of  the  tincture.  Now  as  strong  alcohol  excludes  this, 
substance,  by  reason  of  its  insolubility  in  this  menstruum,  conse- 
quently a  tincture  prepared  by  exhausting  kino  first  with  strong  alco- 
hol, and  diluting  the  solution  moderately  with  water,  that  is,  so  as  to 
bring  it  to  the  officinal  alcoholic  strength,  will  retain  its  astringency 
and  fluidity  unimpaired  by  age. 
The  writer,  however,  prefers  a  stronger  tincture  than  the  officinal,, 
both  in  regard  to  the  alcohol  and  proportion  of  kino.  If  the  strength 
of  the  tincture  of  kino  is  doubled,  which  can  be  most  readily  accom- 
plished by  means  of  strong  alcohol,  the  dose  will  be  only  half  as  large 
by  measure,  and,  therefore,  even  less  alcohol  will  have  to  be  taken, 
together  with  a  certain  amount  of  kino,  than  in  the  officinal  tincture. 
The  mechanical  effect  of  strong  alcohol  in  the  exhaustion  is  also  a 
point  of  much  importance,  because  the  officinal  method  of  manipula- 
tion is  really  a  very  poor  one.  The  application  of  sand  for  effecting 
a  distribution  of  the  powder,  which,  with  the  use  of  the  officinal  men- 
struum, rapidly  agglutinates,  is  the  veriest  nonsense.  When  a  pow- 
der cannot  be  practically  percolated  alone  without  producing  an  ag- 
glutinated mass,  the  intervention  of  an  insoluble  solid  is  not  of  much 
avail.    Such  material  can  only  be  satisfactorily  exhausted  by  macera- 
