ALO 



ALO 



. class of plants, with a 

 ofouh one 

 leaf, divided into six dt , 



Miclit". ; C-bloilg 



, divided intoth: :,d con- 



umber of angulated seeds. 

 . 



,:ic plant arc 



v.nlens of the curious, 



v pleasing variety, 



e odd shape of their leaves, 



he different spots with which they 



ariegated. 



^ are arborescent, or divided 



into a number of branches, like trees ; 



'nail, growing close to 



the ground. The two most considerable 



are the aloe of America, and that 



L ; the' former on account of its 



beautiful flowers, and the latter for the 



drug prepared from it. 



All the aloes are natives ofhot climates; 

 and the place of growth of most of 1 hem 

 is the Cape of Good Hope. The Hotten- 

 tots hollow out the trunk of the first spe- 

 cies, or A. dichotoma, to make quivers 

 for their arrows ; and several of them are 

 used for hedges. Among- the Mahomet- 

 ans, and particularly in Kgypt, the aloe 

 is a kind of symbolic plant, and dedicated 

 to the offices of religion : for pilgrims, on 

 their return from Mecca, suspend it over 

 tlic-ir doors as an evidence of their having 

 '.edthat holy journey. The super- 

 stitious Egyptians imagine, that it has the 

 virtue of keeping off apparition* and evil 

 spirits from their houses, and it is hung 

 over the doors of Christians and .lews in 

 Cairo for this purpose. They also distil 

 from it a water, which is sold in the shops, 

 and recommended in coughs, nsth 

 hysterics. HassclqMist mentions a per- 

 son wli ! of the jaundice in four 

 v taking about half a pint of it. The 

 Arabians ca!i . The negroes, 

 ire informed by Adanson, in his 

 v good ropes 



of the K-a\'- which 



apt to rot in water. M. Fabroni, 

 U-arn from the Annalcs de Chiinie, 

 procured from the lea\es of the aloe suc- 

 i angustifolia, a violet dye, which 

 'lit- action of oxygen, acids, and al- 

 kalies. This juice, he says, produces a 

 superb transparent colour, which is high- 

 K proper for works in miniature, and 

 which, when dissolved in watt'. 

 M-r\ e. either cold or warm, for dyingsilk 

 from the lightest to the darkest shade : 

 and he reckons it one of the most durable 

 colours known in nature. Alo. 



.mongthc ancients in embalming, 



from putrefaction. Of 



,-vative to ship's bottonib . 

 the worms, to which those that t: 



Indies are particularly 

 subject. One ounce of aloes is sufficient 

 for two superficial feet of plank ; about 

 121b. for a vessel of 50 tons burthen, and 

 300 Ib. for a first rate man of war. It 

 maybe incorporated with six pounds of 

 pitch, one of Spanish brown, or whiting, 

 and a quart of oil; or with the same pro- 

 portion of turpentine, Spanish brown and 

 tallow. Such a coat, it has been said, will 

 preserve a ship's bottom eight months, 

 and the expense for a first rate ship will 

 be about 18/. The same composition may 

 be used in hot countries for preserving 

 rafters, &c. from the wood-ant. 'I 

 ficacy of aloes, asa defence against worms, 

 has been controverted. 



ALOE, or ALOES, in pharmacy, the in- 

 spissated juice of the aloe perfoliata, asi- 

 atic aloe, prepared in the following man- 

 ner: from the leaves, fresh pulled, is 

 pressed a juice, the thinner and purer 

 part of which is poured off, and set in the 

 sun to evaporate to a hard yellowish sub- 

 stance, which is called siiccotriiie aloe, as 

 being chiefly made at Succotra. - The 

 thicker part, being put intoanoth 

 sel, hardens into a substance of aliver- 

 colour, and thence called aloe hepatica. 

 The thickest part, or sediment, hardens 

 into a coarse substance, called aloeca- 

 balina, or the horse-aloe, as being chiefly 

 used as a purge for horses. 



Fabroni has discovered that the recent 

 juice of the leaves of the aloe has the pro- 

 if absorbing oxygen, of assuminga 

 fine reddish purple, ana of yielding 

 ment which he strongly ree 

 the artist. 



AL,OPECURUS,/ox-/aj7-jra*, in bo- 

 tany, a genus of the Triandria Digynki. 

 class of plants, and of the n 

 of Grasses, the calyx of which is a i> 

 glume, containing a single flower; tin- 

 valves are hollow, of an ovate lam 

 figure, equal in si/.e, and comp- 

 : .ilia is univalve ; the 

 i,l of the length of the cup, ami 

 ,-ry long 'ted into its 



back r, .. Then- is no peri- 



carpium : the corolla itself rema>! 

 contaii . which is single and of 



a roundish figure. Th. 

 The A.pratcnsis, meadow foxtail, i 



