THE ALOE. 



6S7 



subacid, pleasant flavour, and is formed with 

 sugar into a preserve. 



Two varieties, tlie liundred-leaved, and red or 

 common rose, are used in medicine. The hun- 

 dred-leaved is so called from the number of its 

 petals, which are of a pale red or flesh colour. 

 The red rose has larger and finer petals, and is 

 of a deej) crimson colour. The leaves of the 

 latter are generally collected and dried, and are 

 used for making the infusion of roses; tliey are 

 more astringent than the former, but have less 

 odour. An essential oil is obtained from the 

 distillation of rose leaves, which possesses all 

 the concentrated and delightful odour of the 

 rose. It is well known under tlie name of attar, 

 or oil of roses. It is chiefly made in India, 

 where the rose grows in abundance. 



To produce this oil, forty pounds of the rose 

 flowers, with their calyces, are put into a rude 

 still with sixty pounds of water. Tlie mass 

 being well mixed, a gentle fire is put under the 

 still; and when fumes begin to rise, the cap and 

 pipe are properly fixed and luted. When the 

 impregnated water begins to come over, tlie fire 

 is lessened by gentle degrees, and the distillation 

 is continued until thirty pounds of water are come 

 over, which generally takes place in about four 

 or five hours. Tliis water is to be poured upon 

 forty pounds of fresh roses, and thence are to be 

 drawn from fifteen to twenty pounds of distilled 

 water by the same process as before. It is then 

 poured into pans of earthen ware, or of tinned 

 metal, and left exposed to the fresh air for a 

 niglit; the attar or essence will be found in the 

 morning congealed, and swimming on the top of 

 the water. It is then skimmed off, carefully 

 freed from any remaining drops of water, and 

 then put into bottles for sale. 



A conserve with honey or sugar is made of 

 the fresh petals of the hundred-leaved rose, which 

 is found a mild and pleasant laxative, and may 

 also be employed in making infusion of roses, 

 by pouring on an ounce of the conserve one 

 pound of water. The addition of a few drops 

 of diluted sulphuric acid, heightens the colour 

 and improves the astringent efi^ect of this infu- 

 sion. It may be used internally in spitting of 

 blood, or as a gargle in affections of the tlii-oat. 



CHAP. XLIX. 



THE ALOE, SCAMMONY, JALAP, COLOCYNTH, &C. 



In the preceding chapter we have described 

 those plants which are possessed of a bitter and 

 astringent principle, joined sometimes with 

 an aromatic flavour. We now proceed to con- 

 sider those plants whose juices have an action 

 on the stomach and intestinal canal, called pur- 



gative ; in other words, which have a peculiar 

 stimulating property on those organs, by which 

 their natural or peristaltic motion is increased, 

 as also the secretions from their surface. 



The Aloe (aloe socotrina). Natural family 

 hemerocalledete ; hexandria, monogynia, of Liu- 



Aloet. 



nseus. Of this genus there are at least 150 spe- 

 cies and varieties. The greater part of which 

 are natives of Africa, and a few of the East and 

 West Indies. 



There are several species or varieties supposed 

 to yield the gum aloes, and known in commerce, 

 namely, a. Socotrina (from Socotra), vulgaris 

 (Barbadoes), spicata (Cape), Indica, two or three 

 varieties. About 120 to 130 tons of aloes are 

 annually imported. 



Tlie root of the socotrine aloe is perennial, 

 strong, and fibrous; the flower stems rise three 

 or four feet in heiglit, and are smooth, of a 

 shining green colour, and towards the top beset 

 with bracteal scales. The leaves are numerous, 

 and proceed from the upper part of the root; 

 they are nan-ow, tapering, thick or fleshy, suc- 

 culent, smooth, shining, and beset at the edges 

 with spiney teeth. The flowers are produced 

 in terminal spikes; there is no calyx; the corolla 

 is tubular, divided into six narrow segments at 

 the mouth, and of a striped purplish colour. 

 The capsule contains numerous angular seeds. 

 It is a native of the Cape of Good Hope, and 

 the island of Socotra. It flowers most part of 

 the year, and must not be confounded with 

 another plant, the American aloe (agave Ameri- 

 cana), which is remarkable for the long interval 

 between the periods of its inflorescence. 



A tract of mountains about fifty miles from the 

 Cape of Good Hope, is wholly covered with the 

 aloe plant, which renders the planting of them 

 there unnecessary; but in Jamaica and Barbadoes 

 they are carefully cultivated. To the former of 

 these islands they were first brought from Ber- 

 muda, and gradually propagated themselves. 

 They require two or three years standing before 

 they yield their juice in perfection, to procure 

 which, the labourers go into the field with tuba 

 and knives, and cut off the lai-gest and most 



