ts 



ALOE. 



G85 



Socotrine Aloes is seen to contain an abundance of crystals. As im- 

 ported, it is usually soft, at least in the interior of the mass, but it 

 speedily dries and hardens by keeping/ It is occasionally imported in 

 a completely fluid state (Liquid Socotrine Aloes, Aloe Juice), and is not 

 unfrequently somewhat sour and deteriorated. 



Some fine aloes from Zanzibar, of which a very small quantity was 

 offered for sale in 1867, was contained in a skin, and composed of two 

 layers, the one amorphous, the other a granular translucent substance of 

 light colour, which when softened and examined with a lens, was seen 

 to be a mass of crystals. A very bad, dark, fcjetid sort of aloes is 

 brought to Aden from the interior. It seems to be the 2M'a Aloff< of 

 some writers. 



72 



ir 



was 892 cwt., of which 736 cwt. are reported as shijiped from the Red 

 Sea ports and Aden.^ 



2. Barbados Aloes — Characteristic samples show it as a hard dry 

 substance of a deep chocolate-brown, with a clean, dull, waxy fracture. 

 In small fragments it is seen to be t2-anslucent and of an orange-brown 

 Jiue.^ When breathed upon, it exhales an odour analogous to, but ca.sily 

 distinguishable from, that of Socotrine aloe.s. , It is imported in boxes 

 and gourds. The gourds, into which the aloes has been poured in a 

 melted state through a square hole, over whicli a bit of calico is aftei-- 

 \vards nailed, contain from 10 to 40 lb. or moi-e. Of Jate years, Barbados 

 aloes having a smooth and glassy fracture has been imported; it is 

 known to the London drug-brokers as " CajK?/ Barhachs" By keepin 

 it passes into the usual variety having a dull fracture. 



The export of aloes from Barbados in 1871, as shown by the Bine 

 Book for that colony, was 1046 cwt., of which 954 cwt. were shipped to 

 the United Kingdom. 



Curasao yl?ocs-~manufaetured in the Dutch West Indian islands 

 ot Curasao, Bonaire, and Aruha, is imported into this country by way 

 01 Holland, packed in boxes of 15 to 28 lb. each. In appearance it 

 lesembles Barbados aloes, but has a distinctive odour. 



4. CcqM Aloes— Tho special features of this sort of aloes are its 

 brilliant conchoidal fracture and peculiar odour. Small splinters seen 

 by transmitted light are highly transparent and of an amber colour ; 

 the powder is of a pale tawny yellow. When the drug is moistened and 

 examined under the microscope, no crystals can be detected, even alter 

 the lapse of some days. Cape aloes has the odour of other kinds o 

 aloes, with a certain sourish smell which easily distinguishes it Several 

 qualities are recognized, chiefly by the greater or lesser brilliancy (^t 

 "•acture, and by the tint of the powder. 



^Tvin^ f\^S^ loss as estimated in the ^StaleiJ 



•vfiQ f ^^^ ^^-i ^pon several occasions, o/ Oie Pr 



til ^^'^ 1* per cent.— LaLoratory statis- pt. ii- 19- 

 •-s com^j^jji^.^^^^^ by Messrs. Allen aiul 



ode 



A 



