ly soluble in cold water, and not less than 40 per cent. is soluble in boiling water. The latter solution, when cooled and filtered, shows a faintly acid reaction, gives a dark green precipitate with ferric chloride T.S. and a reddish-violet color with alkalies. The yield of alcoholic extractive is not less than 45 per cent. Kino contains not more than 12 per cent. of moisture, and yields not more than 3 per cent. of ash." U. S.
"In small, angular, glistening, opaque, reddish-black, brittle fragments; transparent and ruby-red in thin laminae. Inodorous; taste very astringent. Almost entirely soluble in alcohol (90 per cent.), slowly and incompletely soluble m cold water, not less than 75 per cent. soluble in boiling water, the solutions being deep red in color. Almost entirely insoluble in ether. An aqueous solution (1 in 20) yields a voluminous reddish precipitate with dilute mineral acids, and, when largely diluted with water, a greenish-black precipitate with T. Sol. of ferric chloride. Ash not more than 2.5 per cent. In India and the Eastern Divisions of the Empire, Butea Gum (Buteae Gummi) may be employed in making the official preparations for which Kino (distinguished in commerce as East Indian, Malabar, Madras, or Cochin kino) is directed to be used." Br.
If in large masses, it may be reduced without difficulty into minute fragments. It is without odor, and has a bitter, highly astringent taste, with a somewhat sweetish after-taste. It burns with little flame, and does not soften with heat. It imparts its virtues and a deep red color to water and alcohol, but is nearly insoluble in ether. Cold water forms with it a clear infusion. Boiling water dissolves it more largely, and the saturated decoction becomes turbid on cooling, and deposits a reddish sediment. The tincture is not disturbed by water. When long kept, it often gelatinizes, and loses its astringency. (See Tinctura Kino.) Kino undoubtedly consists chiefly of a modification of tannic acid or tannin, which has received the name of kino-tannic acid, with extractive, gum, and sometimes probably a little resin, but we need a careful analysis of the different well-ascertained varieties. The aqueous solution is precipitated by gelatin, the soluble salts of iron, silver, lead, and antimony, mercuric chloride, and sulphuric, nitric, and hydrochloric acids. The precipitate with iron is of an olive or greenish-black color. The alkalies favor the solubility of kino in water, but essentially change its nature and destroy its astringency.
1. EAST INDIA KINO. Malabar Kino.—This is the variety at present probably most used and most highly esteemed, and the only one recognized by the British and United States Pharmacopoeias. Its origin was long unknown. It is now ascertained, through the researches of Pereira, Royle, Wight, and others, to be the product of Pterocarpus Marsupium, a lofty tree growing upon the mountains of the Malabar coast of Hindostan. Kino is the juice of the tree extracted through longitudinal incisions in the bark and afterwards dried in the sun. Upon drying it breaks into small fragments, and is put into wooden boxes for exportation. It is collected near Tellicherry, and exported from Bombay. It is sometimes imported into this country directly from the East Indies, but more commonly from London. From a communication in the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, by F. Mason, it appears that kino is also collected in the Tenasserim provinces, in Farther India, and has been exported from Maulmain to Europe. It is produced by a tree called Pa-douck, which Christison recognized from a description furnished to him by Begbie, of Maulmain, as Pterocarpus Marsupium, so that this kino has the same origin as that from Malabar. Pterocarpus indicus, of the Mauritius Islands, where it is known as sang-dragon, also yields a red kino to commerce.
When kino is boiled in water, the decoction deposits, on cooling, a bright red substance, and a similar deposition takes place when a cold filtered aqueous solution is long exposed with a broad surface to the air. Accord