KINNEY, WILLIAM BURNET, 1799-1880; b. N. J.; descended of English ancestry in a line eminent for its talents, position, and influence was designed by his parents for military life, but his love of letters led to a change of purpose. He studied law with Mr.—afterwards chief-justice—Hornblower; edited the lieu Jersey Eacle, in Newark, 1820-25; studied law and medicine in New York in 1825; and was one of the founders of the mercantile library. Made a public profession of religion, and began the study of theology, with a view to the ministry. His health being impaired, he returned to New ark in 1830, and devoted himself to literary and educational pursuits; was one of the founders of the Newark public library • took an active part in promoting the establish ment of the American lyceum, and the introduction of the system of free schools into the state. He undertook the management of the Newark Daily Advertiser, which he edited for many years with great ability; received in 1836 the honorary degree of master of arts from Princeton college, of which in 1840 he was elected a trustee. In 1850 he was appointed by president Taylor minister-resident at the court of Sardinia, where he rendered important aid to Cavour and his court in the liberal institutions of Italy. Upon the expiration of his term of office he retired to Florence, in order to be with friends devoted to literature and art, among whom were the Brownings and the Trollopes, with Hiram Powers and other American artists. Returning home after the close of the late war, he devoted himself to the preparation of the material he had for many years accumulated for a history of Tuscany and the Medici family, but did not live to complete the work. Mr. Kinney was a man of splendid intellectual powers, of high literary culture, a brilliant conversationalist, and though at one time skeptical through the influence of German rationalism, possessed in afterlife a firm belief in the Christian religion.
KIS°, an astringent substance, resembling catechu (q.v.) and gambir (q.v.), the con crete exudation of certain tropical trees, especially of pteroearpus marsupinm; a native of the mountains of Coromandel, which yields EAST INDIAN KING, and of P. erinaceus, a native of Gambia, which yields AFRICAN Kirfo. The genus pterocatpus belongs to the natural order leguminosm, sub-order papilionacece, and.has a 5-toothed calyx, and an irreg ular. nearly orbicular one-seeded pod, surrounded with a wing.
East Indian kino is the kind which now chiefly occurs in commerce, and is the ordi nary kino or gum kino of the shops. It is in small angular glistening fragments, the smaller reddish, the larger almost black. Thin pieces are ruby red. It is brittle and easily powdered, has no smell, but has a very astringent taste. BENGAL KTNO is a shni bar astringent substance. produced by lattea frondosa. See BUTEA. It has been found capable of the medicinal Uses of true kino. BOTANY BAY Brno is the produce of eucalyp tus resimfera. See EUCALYPTUS.
The astringency of kino is mainly due to its containing tannic and catechnie acid, and in consequence of this property it Is employed in medicine in certain forms of diarrhea (especially when a flux seems to be kept up by want of tone in the intestinal capillaries), the best mode of prescribing it as compound kino powder, which is a mixture of kino, cinnamon, and opium, and the. dose for an adult ranging from ten grains to a scruple. There is also a tincture of kino, which, when properly diluted with water, forms an excellent gargle for relaxatiori of the uvula.
Kino is employed to a considerable extent in the East Indies as a cotton dye, giving to the cotton the yellowish-brown color known as nankeen.