84 NAT. ORDER. CORONARI.E.' 



planting of them unnecessary, and on account of its dense thickness is 

 said to prove a very strong defence against the invasion of foreign 

 powers. It is cultivated also in the island of Barbadoes and Jamaica, 

 from whence we are mostly supplied, although it frequently happens 

 that the American Aloe is substituted for it, which is but little if any 

 inferior. 



The United States Dispensatory gives four varieties of aloes as 

 the principal kinds known in commerce, viz., that of the Cape of Good 

 Hope, the Socotrine, the Hepatic, and the Barbadoes ; the two first 

 being by far the most abundant, are mostly used in this country, and 

 from their extraordinary cheai^ness and excellent qualities, bid fair 

 to supersede the other varieties which have been imported principally 

 from Great Britain. 



The juice of this plant does not arrive at perfection until the 

 plant is two or three years old, at which time the most succulent 

 leaves are cut off near the root, and placed perpendicularly by the side 

 of each other in tubs, to afford an opportunity for the juice to exude, 

 which is afterwards collected into a large shallow vessel, and expos:?d 

 to the rays of the sun, till it becomes of a proper consistence. Some- 

 times the leaves are cut in small pieces, and then set aside for the juice 

 to exude ; by either of these modes the best kind of Aloes is procured 

 an inferior sort is obtained by boiling the sliced leaves in water for a 

 short time, then removing them and adding more, and continuing to 

 repeat this until the liquor becomes of a dark color, when it is evapo- 

 rated by the rays of the sun to a proper consistence. 



Medical Propcities and Uses. Aloes is a stimulating cathar- 

 tic, acting chiefly upon the lower part of the large intestines ; it does 

 not much increase the secretion from the bowels, but promotes theii 

 peristaltic action, and by that means causes the expulsion of any accu- 

 mulation in them, from its operation being almost exclusively confine( 

 to the lower portion of the intestinal canal ; it is said to possess con 

 siderable emmenagogue properties, which are generally attributed to i 

 sympathetic extension of irritation through the rectum. 



