DRUGS. 77 



and importance, and may be briefly stated thus : — The sub- 

 stance called aloes was known to the Greeks so far back as 

 the fourth century before the Christian era as a product of 

 Socotra, and its source has been attributed by all writers, 

 even the best authorities, to Aloe Socoirina, a species 

 cultivated in England for more than a hundred years. It 

 ■was not, however, till 1878 that the first authentic specimen 

 of Socotra aloes was brought to this country by Mr. 

 Wykeham Perry. The plant reached Kew in a living state, 

 but did not survive. Professor Bayley Balfour, however, 

 during his visit to Socotra in 1880 obtained a supply of both 

 living and dried plants, as well as of the aloes itself in all 

 stages of preparation ; these specimens are now contained in 

 the Kew Museum, and one of the living plants flowered in 

 the succulent house at Kew in 1881, and has been named 

 by Mr. J. G. Baker Aloe Perryi after its discoverer. 



Dragon's Blood (Braccena scMzantha and D. Ombet). — 

 Dragon's blood of Africa, though known in medicine from 

 the earliest historical times, now rarely finds its way into 

 commerce, and until recently little or nothing has been 

 known of its history. In 1871, however, Mr. Baker 

 described a species of Dracama found in Somaliland, and 

 yielding dragon's blood, under the name of D. schizantha, 

 and he also identified a species of Braccena found in Socotra 

 as D. Ombet ; this tree is described as growing at an eleva- 

 tion of 1,500 feet above the sea ; it attains a height of 

 twenty feet, with spreading drooping branches of a mushroom 

 form. The resin is obtained by scraping the bark, and after 

 fifteen or twenty days it exudes. It is exported from Aden 

 chiefly to Bombay, where it is used by goldsmiths. 



Nepal and Benoal Cardamoms {Amomum subulatum). 

 — Though it is well known that the bulk of the cardamoms 

 of commerce — namely, those grown in Southern India — are 

 the produce of Elettaria cardamomum, the sources of some 

 of the other kinds are by no means definitely settled. Those 



