FAMILY HERBAL. 7 



plant ; the leaves are pressed gently, and the juice 

 received in earthen vessels : ii is set to settle, and then 

 dried in the sun. 



The common aloe is a very fine plant ; the leaves 

 are above two feet long', and an inch thick ; they are 

 dented at the edges and prickly, and have a very 

 sharp thorn at the point. The stalk, when it 

 flowers, is five or six feet high, and divided into 

 several branches ; the flowers are yellow streaked 

 with green. 



From the juice of the leaves of this plant 

 are made the hepatic and the caballine aloes ; 

 the hepatic is made from the clearer and finer 

 part of the juice, the caballine from the coarse 

 sediment. 



The socotrine aloes is the only kind that 

 should be given inwardly ; this may be known 

 from the others, by not having their offensive 

 smell. It is a most excellent purge ; but it must 

 not be given to women with child, nor to those 

 who spit blood, for it may be fatal. The best 

 way of giving it is in the tincture of hicra 

 picra. 



Aloes Wood. Lignum aloes. 



It may be necessary to mention this wood, as it 

 is sometimes used in medicine, although we are 

 not acquainted with the tree which affords it. We 

 are told that the leaves are small, the tlowers mode- 

 rately large, and the fruit as big as a pigeon's egg, 

 and woolly ; and we read also that the juice of the 

 rree, while fresh, will raise blisters on the skin, and 

 t'ven cause blindness : but these accounts are very 

 imperfect. 



We see three kinds of the wood in the shops, 



