S6i 
t H S fort of aloes, but its tafte is not much more unpleafant than that 
of the extrads made from the two other forts. h 
neither noticed by Hippocrates " 
Aloes 
t^. r -a *• » i • 't ** '- nor Tne ophrailus, but 
Diofcondes mentions two kinds ; and Avicenna tells us, that of the 
different kinds the focotorine 
i c 
the heft. 
Cellus, however, who 
frequently employed aloes, does not mention any peculiar fort' 
Aloes is a well known purgative ; a property which it poffeffes 
not only when taken internally, but alfo 
This cathartic quality of aloes does not, like molt of th 
external application. 1 
> 
others of 
refide in the refinous part of the drug but in the eum for 
this clafs 
the pure refin has little or no purgative power." Boerhaav(T decl 
ares 
aloes to be an effectual and fafe cathartic, but though we may have 
little to fear from its hypercathartic effeds, yet in large dofes it often 
produces much heat and irritation, particularly about the red urn, from 
which it fometimes occafions a bloody difcharge : therefore, to' thofe 
who are fubjed to piles, or of an hemorrhagic diathefis, or even i 
in a 
ftate of pregnancy, its exhibition has been produdive of confiderable 
mifchief : but on the contrary, by thofe of a phlegmatic conftitution 
or fuffering by uterine obftrudions, and in fome cafes of dyfpepfy, 
\ 
palfy, gout, and worms 
> 
alo 
es may be employed as a laxative 
\ 
with peculiar advantage. Its purgative effeds are not always in 
proportion to the quantity taken, and as its principal ufe is rather to 
obviate coftivenefs than to operate ftrongly, this ought to be no ob- 
jection to its ufe. Refpeding the choice of the different kinds of 
aloes, it may be obferved that the focotorine, as already mentioned, 
contains more gummy matter than the hepatic, and hence is found 
to purge with more certainty and greater irritation ; therefore is molt 
proper where a ftimulus is required, or for promoting the uterine 
: while the hepatic is better calculated for the purpofe of a 
common purgative ; and alfo by containing more refin anfwers 
better for external application confidered as a vulnerary. 
The dofe of aloes is from half a fcruple to half a dram, but it is 
feldom given alone. Several preparations of it are direded in the 
difcharge 
h See Edinburgh new Difpenfatory. 
V. Monro's Worksop. 306. and Mem. de la Sac. R* de Medec. a Paris> Vol. 2. p. 162. 
pharma- 
