ALOE PERFOLIATA SOCOTORINA, ORD. XLVI. Liliacee. 771 
vessel. At first it is boiled briskly, but towards the end the 
evaporation is slow, and requires constantly stirring to prevent 
burning. When it becomes of the consistence of honey, it is 
poured into gourds or calabashes for sale. The socotorine aloes 
may be prepared as above.” | 
The aloe socotorina or socotorine aloes is so named, from being 
formerly * brought from the Island Socotria or Zocotria at the 
mouth of the Red sea: it comes wrapt in skins and is of a bright 
surface, and in some degree pellucid; in the lump of a yellowish 
red colour witha purplish cast; when reduced into powder of a 
golden colour. It is hard and friable in the winter, somewhat 
pliable in the summer, and softens between the fingers. Its bitter 
taste is accompanied with an aromatic flavour, but not sufficient 
to prevent its being disagreeable: the smell is not very un- 
pleasant, and somewhat resembles that of myrrh. The aloe 
hepatica E. P. and Barbadensis L. P. the Hepatic, Barbadoes, or 
common aloes, is chiefly brought from Barbadoes; the best sort 
in large gourd shells, an inferior kind in pots, and a still worse in | 
casks ; is han the foregoing, and not so clear or 
bright. It is generally drier and more compact, though sometimes, 
especially the cask sort, quite soft and clammy. Its smell is much 
stronger and more disagreeable: the taste intensely bitter and 
nauseous, with little or nothing of the aromatic flavour of the 
socotorine. — 
Another kind of aloes obtained from the aloe guineensis cabal- 
lina vulgari similis sed tota maculata,* is also kept in the shops, 
and called aloe caballina, or horse aloes. This is easily dis- 
tinguished from both the foregoing, by its strong rank smell: 
in other respects it agrees pretty much with the hepatic, and is 
now not unfrequently sold in its place. Sometimes it is prepared 
£'V. Dr. Wright’s account of the medicinal plants growing in Jamaica, in Lond. 
Med. Jour. Vol. 8. p. 219 
t It is now said to ha Aline the Cape by the Dutch East India Company. 
* Commel. Prael. bot, p. 4. 
