4 PHARMACOPEIAL DRUGS 



the various names applied to the drug, stating that "it 

 is important in Sanskrit," and that of the eighteen 

 varieties of aconite mentioned by Hindu writers, ten 

 were considered too poisonous to be used in medicine. 

 Indeed, under the Sanskrit term Visha, and its equiva- 

 lent Bish and Bikh, of modern Indian languages, aconite 

 was accepted as "the most virulent poison known." 

 Everywhere it is known to the common people as a 

 poison. Storck, of Vienna, (617), introduced the drug 

 to the medical profession in 1763, and from that date 

 it crept into European dispensatories, and from thence 

 into general practice. Aconite, in small doses, is a 

 great favorite with American physicians. 



ALOE (Aloes) 



Official in all editions of the Pharmacopeia, 1820-1910. As 

 official sources of aloe, the U. S. P., 1910, names Aloe Perryi, 

 (Socotrine aloes), Aloe vera, (Curasao aloes), and Aloe ferox, 

 (Cape aloes). 



The name aloe embraces a large number of succulent- 

 leaved plants native to tropical countries. Most of 

 these have showy flowers, and many are cultivated in 

 hot-houses. The official variety, Aloe socotrina, "grows 

 in the Indies, and especially in the island of Socotra." 

 (Lam.) 



The early history of the aloe plant is much obscured 

 by the fact that the name aloe, for example as it occurs 

 in the Bible, relates to a substance entirely different 

 from the inspissated juices of the various species of the 

 modern aloe plant, with which it has nothing in com- 

 mon, except its bitterness. The aloe of the Bible is the 

 wood of Aquillaria agallocha (Roxburgh), or lignaloes, 

 which was used among ancient nations as an incense, 

 and highly prized on account of its scarcity. References 



