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dried alofS, which is moft approved for medicinal piirpofcs, 

 vcr)' httle is made in Barbadoes. The procefs, however, is 

 very fimpic, though veiy tedious. The raw juice is cither 

 put into blp.dders, left quite open at top, and fufpcnded in 

 the fun, or in broad Ihallow trays of wood, pewter, or tin, 

 cxpolcd alfo to the fun every dry day, until all tlie fluid 

 parts are exhaled, and a perfedl: reiln formed, which is then 

 packed up for ufe, or for exportation. 



Dr. Wright (Med. Joiirn. vol. viii. p. 219.) gives the 

 following account, fomewhat different from the former, of 

 the method of preparing hepatic aloes in Jainaica. The plant 

 is pulled up by the roots, and carefully cleaiifed from earth 

 or other imp-.i:ities. It is then diced and cut in pieces into 

 fniall haud-bailvcts or nets. Thefe nets or balkets are put 

 into large iron boilers with water, and boiled for ten minutes, 

 when they are taken out, and frefli parcels fupplied till the 

 liquor is ftrong and black. At this period the liquor is 

 thrown through a ib-ainer into a deep vat, naiTow at the 

 bottom, to cool, and to depoiit its feculent parts. Next day 

 the clear liquor is drawn oti" by a cocl:, and again committed 

 to the large iron velTels. At firfl it is boiled briflcly, but 

 towards the end the evaporation is (low, and requires con- 

 llant ftirring to prevent its burning. When it becomes of 

 the confillence of honey, it is poured into gourds or cala- 

 badies for fale. The jheotorine aloes, he fays, may be pre- 

 pared in the fame maimer. 



3. CabjUine, or horfe aloes, obtained, as fome fay, from 

 the faeces of the hepatic aloes, and according to others from 

 a dillincl variety of the aloe peiioliata, denominated A. 

 guitieeiijis raballina vulgari fimllis fed tola tnaculata, is eafdy 

 dilliuguifhed from the two former by its llrong rank fmell. 

 In other relpefts it agrees pretty much with the hepatic, 

 and is not unlrequently fold for it. Sometimes it is pre- 

 pared fo pure and bright as fcarcelv to be dillinguilhable by 

 the eye, even from the focotorine, but its offenfive fmell 

 foon betrays it ; and if even this fhould be dilTipated by art, 

 its wanting the aromatic flavour of the finer aloes will be a 

 fufficient criterion. Some fay, that its colour is alfo much 

 darker, indicating a mixture of fordes and fand, and that it 

 is of courfe much more compaft and heavy. Ti\is aloe is 

 not admitted into the Materia Medica, and is employed 

 chiefly by Farriers. From the obfervations of Profeflbr 

 Murray it appears probable, that different fpecies as well as 

 varieties of aloe would furnifh the various kmds of this drug, 

 and that Linnxus by referring thefe forts to thofe plants, 

 the recent juice of which feemed to correfpond refpectively 

 the nearell to them in tafl:e, might eafily be mifled ; for 

 Murray, upon tailing the frefn juice of many different fpecies 

 of aloe, fometimes found it bitter, and at other times totally 

 devoid of bitternefs. This author found the bittereft fpecies 

 to be the following, lire. \. Aloe elongala, floribus fpieatis 

 tubulofo-triquetris fubringentibus obhque dependentibns, 

 fuliis aggregatis dentato-fpinofis ; and he queries whether 

 this is not the variety t of the A. perfoUata of Linn. Spec, 

 p. 458, and the aloe mentioned by Hughes and Browne. 2. 

 A. Sp'.catn, which is faid to afford ttie beil liepatic aloes. 

 3. A. linguaformis, which in the interior parts of the Cape 

 is felefted by fome as producing the beft and purell aloes. 

 M. JufTieu, who faw the three varieties of aloes prepared at 

 Mon-iedro, in Spain, affures us (fays Chaptal, Elem. Chern. 

 vol._ iii. p. 86), that they are all obtained from the aloe vul- 

 {;aris. The firfl variety, or focotorine aloes, is obtained by 

 making inciilons in the leaves. Time is allowed for its 

 impurities to fubhde perfectly. The fluid is then decanted 

 from the dregs, and left to become thick ; after which it is 

 put into leathern facks for fale, under the name of focotorine 



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aloes. A Juice of the fame nature is obtained by exprcfSon 



from the lame leaves, which, when clarified in the fame 

 manner, forms the hepatic aloes ; and the caballine aloes is 

 obtained by a flrgnger preifure. 



Aloes is mentioned neither by Hippocrates nor Theo» 

 phrailus ; Diofcorides mentions two kinds, and Avicenna 

 tells us, that of the difierent kmds, without naming themj. 

 the focotorine is the beft. Celfus, who frequently mcritions 

 aloes, and recommends it to be mixed with all cathartics, 

 does not dillinguifh it by any epithets. If, indeed, the 

 account of J. Bauhin (Hill. Plants, torn. iii. p. 697.) be 

 true, that the juice of the leaves forms itfelf fpantaiieoufly 

 into three flrata, the upper being the focotorine, the middle 

 the hepatic, and the lowefl or fices the caballine ; there may 

 be fome reafon for the diflinftion of the tliree names, that 

 have been imiformly appropriated to them. 



All the kinds of aloes agree in this, that they confift of 

 a refinous matter, and a large proportion of a fubfiance called 

 gum ; and tliat they difiolve m pure fpirit, proof fpirit, and 

 proof fpirit diluted with half its weight of water, the im- 

 purities only being left ; and in boihug water they alio dif- 

 folve, but when the liquor becomes cold, the refinous parts 

 fubfide. The quantity of refin in hepatic aloes appe;ired in 

 experiments of Dr. Lewis to be jd, in focotorine aloes ith, and 

 in the caballine |-th. According to Boulduc, the focotorine 

 aloes contains no more than ith of reun, and tlie hepatic 

 aloes contains half its weight ; and thtrefore the hepatic 

 aloes contains more refin and lefs gum than the focotorine, 

 and this than the caballine. The reiins of all the forts, 

 purified by folution in fpirit of wine, have littL fmell ; that 

 of the focotorine has fcarcely any perceptible tafle ; that of 

 the hepatic a flight bitterifli relilh ; and that of the caballine 

 a little more of the aloetic flavour. The gummy extiaifls 

 are lefs difagreeable than the crude aloes ; that of the foco- 

 torine aloes has very little fmell, and its tafle is fcarceiy 

 unpleafant ; the fmell of the extraft of the hepatic is foine- 

 what flronger, but its tafle more agreeable than that of the 

 focotorine ; the gum of the caballine retains a confiderable 

 fhare of the rank fmell of this fort of aloes, but its tafte 

 is not more unpleafant than that of the extrafts of the other 

 kinds. 



Aloes is a well known purgative ; and it afts not only 

 when taken internally, but v.lien externally applied ; and its 

 cathartic quality reiides chiefly in the gummy part, for the 

 pure refin has little or no purgative virtue. Boerliaave 

 declares it to be an effectual and fafe cathartic ; neverthelefs 

 in large dofes it produces much heat and irritation, particu- 

 larly about the reilum, from which it fometimes occafions 

 a bloody difcharge. To thofe, tlicrefore, who are fubjcft 

 to piles, or of an haemorrhagic diathefis, the plethoric and 

 bilious, or even in a flate of pregnancy, the exhibition of it 

 has done much harm ; but it is particidarly adapted, by its 

 flimulating quality, to perfons of a phlegmatic temperament 

 and fedentarv life, to cachectic indifpofition, and oppreflions 

 of the flomach by vifcid crudities contraftcd from irregu- 

 larity. Although in purging dofes, of half a dram or two 

 fcruples, it produces irritation about the anus and fometimes 

 a difcharge of blood, yet in fmaller dofes of 10 or J 2 grains, 

 repeated once or twice a day, it not only unloads the firfl; 

 paifages, but attenuates and diffolves vifcid humours in the 

 remoter parts, warms the habit, quickens the circulation, 

 and promotes the menflvual and hamorrhoidal fluxes ; and 

 its continued ufe renders the blood ienfibly more fluid. This, 

 fays Dr. Cullen, {uii hifia), appears to me improbable. We 

 have frequently fecn the blood drawn from perfons ufing a 

 good deal of aloes, and never could difcover any change of 



its 



