14 MATERIA MEDICA. 



peculiarity in the horse's intestines which 

 renders them more liable to be injured by 

 purgatives of every kind, than those of any 

 other domestic animal ; cathartic medicines 

 should therefore be always prepared by 

 persons of judgment and experience. 



Cape Aloes is rather transparent, and 

 very brittle ; it is ea-dy powdered, in which 

 state it is of a briij^ht yellow colour ; the 

 odour arising from it is no*^ so strong as the 

 BarhadoeSf but rat!ier stronger, and less 

 agreeable than the succoirine. This kind 



I can confidently assert, that I have given many 

 hundreds of doses since the first publication of this 

 book, and that not one single case has occurred in 

 which it operated in a rough or unpleasant manner j 

 I have also given an extensive trial to the Succo- 

 trine and Cape Aloes, and again found them very 

 weak and uncertain in their effect. The former 

 are therefore preferred, on account of their superior 

 strength ; the common dese for a hunter being 4 

 or 5 drams, joined with soap or kalij&c'! this dose 

 is equal to 7 or S drams of Succotrine Aloes; their 

 purgative quality being of the same kindy though 

 a given weight of the former contains more of it 

 than the same weight of the latter; it maybe pro- 

 per to add that my experiments have been ma4e 

 •on the horse, and not on man. 



