The American Cyclopædia (1879)/Kino

KINO (sometimes incorrectly called gum kino), a name applied to various astringent vegetable extracts. These are obtained from several distinct regions, and from trees not only of different genera but of different orders, agreeing, however, in the essential characteristic of containing a large proportion of tannic acid, with more or less resin, gum, and extractive. It occurs in small fragments, or even powder, and is usually of a reddish color, with little or no odor and a bitterish astringent taste. The tannic acid which it contains is of the variety which precipitates the salts of iron a greenish black or olive color. By some chemists this kino-tannic acid is supposed to be not a distinct variety, but a combination of ordinary or gallo-tannic acid with a red coloring matter called kinoic acid. Among the principal varieties are the East India kino, from the pterocarpus marsupium, a lofty leguminous tree growing upon the mountains of India. This contains 95 per cent. of tannin and extractive, and 24 of red gum. West India or Jamaica kino is believed to be the product of coccoloba uvifera, or seaside grape, a small tree of the order polygonaceæ. It is possible that the same plant is the source of the South American kino. The African kino, although it is the variety to which the name was first applied, is no longer in the market. The butea gum from the dhah tree of India has been mistaken for it, and has a similar composition. Botany Bay kino is the concrete juice of eucalyptus resinifera, the brown gum tree of Australia, a large and lofty tree of the order myrtaceæ. It is said that a single tree is capable of furnishing 500 lbs. of kino in one year. — Kino is used in medicine as a powerful astringent, both internally and externally. It may be employed in the form of powder, infusion, or tincture. The last named preparation is apt to gelatinize and lose its astringency when too long kept and exposed to the air. The dose of the powder is from 10 to 30 grains; of the tincture, a teaspoonful; of the infusion, 2 or 3 oz. It is chiefly used medicinally in the treatment of diarrhœa. Passive hæmorrhages are sometimes controlled by it.