Tinctura Kino. U. S., Br. Tincture of Kino. Tr. Kino.

Botanical name: 

Related entries: Kino

Teinture (alcoole) de Kino, Fr. Cod.; Kinotinktur, G.

"Kino, one "hundred grammes [or 3 ounces av., 231 grains], to make one thousand mils [or 33 fluidounces, 6 ½ fluidrachms]. Place the kino in a capacious flask and pour on it five hundred mils [or 16 fluidounces, 435 minims] of boiling water. Agitate the mixture thoroughly, then heat it on a water bath, containing boiling water, for one hour, shaking it frequently. Allow the liquid to cool, add enough recently boiled water to make the product measure five hundred mils [or 16 fluidounces, 435 minims] and then add five hundred mils [or 16 fluid-ounces, 435 minims] of alcohol. Stopper the flask, set it aside in a cool place for twenty-four hours and then decant the mixture through cheese cloth. Preserve it in a cool and dark place, in small bottles, tightly corked." U. S.

"Kino, in powder, 100 grammes; Glycerin, 150 millilitres; Distilled Water, 250 millilitres; Alcohol (90 per cent.), sufficient to produce 1000 millilitres. Mix the Glycerin and the Distilled Water; rub the Kino in a mortar with a sufficient quantity of the mixture to form a smooth paste, gradually adding the remainder of the mixture; transfer to a closed vessel; add five hundred millilitres of the Alcohol; set aside for twelve hours, shaking occasionally; filter; pass sufficient of the Alcohol through the filter to produce the required volume." Br.

Much inconvenience is caused by the tendency of this tincture to gelatinize and gradually lose its astringency. The present official formula is believed to furnish a tincture free from this objection. It is probable that different specimens of kino vary in their tendency to gelatinize. Groves states that fresh kino will not gelatinize, and Martindale that the Australian kino is much more prone to do so than the East India drug. The air has some effect, for if this be entirely excluded the tincture will keep for a long time without undergoing the change. It should be introduced, when prepared, into very small bottles, which should be kept well corked and be opened only when wanted for use. J. D. Wood obtains a handsome preparation, which he believes to keep well and not gelatinize, by using a menstruum of 2 parts of alcohol sp. gr. 0.835, and 1 part each of water and glycerin.

L. Meyers Connor gets rid of the gelatinizing property by using magnesium carbonate in making the tincture, but it is very probable that a large part of the kino-tannic acid is removed at the same time. (A. J. P., xlv, 260.) P. F. Smith of Louisville, furnished the following formula: "Take of Kino one ounce and a half; Ground Logwood half an ounce; Diluted Alcohol a sufficient quantity. Moisten the Logwood with a portion of the Diluted Alcohol, and introduce it into a displacement apparatus. Dissolve the Kino by triturating with successive portions of Diluted Alcohol, and percolate the solution through the Logwood until a pint of tincture is obtained." We have used this process and have not noticed gelatinization to take place in any instance. Sugar added in equal proportions with the kino employed has been recommended as a preventive of gelatinization, and R. Bother claims permanence for the following formula: Powder one and a half troy-ounces of kino and half a troy-ounce of catechu, mix them, add ten fluidounces of water, heat for ten or fifteen minutes with constant stirring, and let the mixture cool. Add water to make the mixture twelve fluidounces, and then add four fluidounces of alcohol. Pour the mixture into a bottle containing sixty grains of filter-paper, shake the whole well at intervals, and strain the tincture after twenty-four hours. (A. J. P., 1886, 333.)

An important change in the process of the U. S. Pharmacopoeia VIII was the employment of heat. This was due to the researches of Edmund White (P. J., 1903, May, 644, and Nov., 702), who with David Hooper believes that the gelatinization of tincture of kino is due to an enzyme or oxydase present in the kino; the activity of this is destroyed by heat. Tincture of kino is one of the most frequently prescribed astringents, especially in the treatment of diarrhea.

Dose. one to two fluidrachms (3.75-7.5 mils).

Off. Prep.—Tinctura Kino et Opii Composita, N. F.


The Dispensatory of the United States of America, 1918, was edited by Joseph P. Remington, Horatio C. Wood and others.