A L O 



A L O 



itsconfifttfnce ; and if tl\c expcriments-of Schwenkc may be 

 trutled, alDCs ;uldcJ to tlic blood drawn out of the- veins 

 feems to coagulate rather than to diliblvi; it : belides the 

 quantity of aloes taken in ean hardly have any leniible effcit 

 upon the whole nials of blood. It has been urged, liow- 

 ever, that by its dilfolving power it proves an emmenagoguc, 

 and i,; hurtful in all morbid hiTrmorrhages. Dr. CuUcn ob- 

 icrves, liiut he Ivas leldom found the emmenagogue powers 

 of this lubllancc if ever there be any appearance of fuch 

 3 power, it is probably to be afcribed, in his opinion, rather 

 to its operation on the reohnn, communicating a llimulus to 

 the vefliils of the uterus, than to its action on the mals ot 

 blood. When aloes is not deligned to act as a purgative, il 

 has an aclion upon the llomach ; and it has frequently been 

 found an antifpafmudic, in relieving pains of this organ. 

 It is alfo ufeful in habitual coltivencfs, when taken in 

 fmall doles. With refpetl to its ordinary operation, Dv. 

 Lewis alledges, that its efieds are moi-e permanent than 

 thofe of any other purgative ; this Dr. Cullen ( Mat. Med. 

 vol. ii. p. ^z^.) docs not admit ; for we commonly find, he 

 favs, that notwithllanding the ufe of aloes, the Ihite of 

 coilivenels will return at its ulual period, and that it is often 

 receirary to anticipate this by the ufe of the aloetic. This 

 bitter juice has been accounted deilruClive to worms, or to 

 the matter which favours their production, either taken in- 

 ternally or applied in plailers to the umbilical region ; and 

 from its imagined efficacy in this refpect, it has been uiedto 

 preierve (hips againll: the attacks of worms. But its an- 

 thelmintic virtue has been difputed by iVIurray, who fays 

 that worms have lived for 20 hours in the bitterell fol>ition of 

 focotorine aloes, and for many days afterwards in earth mixed 

 with powder of aloes. In another experiment four worms 

 were not deilroyed on the fourth day. It is powerfully an- 

 tifeptic ; and commonly makes an ingredient in tinftures 

 and balfams for cleanhig and healing wound'ior putrid forss. 

 As to the choice of the difl'erent kinds of aloes, it may be ob- 

 ferved, that the focotorine, which contains more gummy 

 matter than the hepatic, purges with more certainty and 

 greater irritation, and is therefore mod proper where a fli- 

 mulus is required, or for promoting the uterine difcharge ; 

 but the hepatic is better calculated for the purpofe of a 

 common purgative ; and as it contains more relln, anfwers 

 better as a vulnerar)-, for external ?pplication. Aloes is 

 feldom given alone. Aloes, fays Dr. Cullen, atts as readily 

 in fubllance as in any folution ; and therefore this is never 

 to be praftifed but for the fake of more convenient exhi- 

 bition ; and it has been found to operate in fubllance in a 

 fmailer dofe tjian in the vinum aloeticum. Aloes hardly 

 receives improvement by any addition ; and the vulgar find 

 ss much effcA from the aloes alone as from the pilulas aloe- 

 tica;. Some benefit; however, is obiained by fome divifion 

 of the aloes before it is taken into the body, ai.d the extract 

 of gentian is properly enough employed ; but Dr. Cullen is 

 perluaded, that the Edinburgh college have not done right 

 in withdrawing the whole of the fal polychreftnm from the 

 aioctic pill. In the pilula' rufi the myrrh may be ufeful in 

 dividing the aloes ; but the addition of the fafFron is infig- 

 niiicant. Rhubarb added to aloes can anfwcr no good pur- 

 pofe. In the piluls ftomachicas Ph. Ed. and in the chxir 

 facrum, the rhubarb, fays Dr. Cullen, is an ufclefs addition. 

 The aloes, continues this author, is never properly joined 

 with the draftic purgatives, as in the piluloe colocynthidis 

 cum aloe, and in the extrailum colocynthidis compofitum ; 

 for if fuch a medicine is intended to produce a hquid eva- 

 cuation the aloes is fuperfluous ; and if it is intended only 

 X<3 open the belly, the draftics arc unnecefiary. In the elixir 



proprietatis, the fuTron is an indgnificant ingredifnt : and 

 on account of tlie inenllruum employed by llie Edinburgh 

 college. Dr. Cullen fays, he has never employed it as an 

 cvacuant, but he often ufed it with fuccefs in cuilng fpaf- 

 modic pains of the llomach ; and for fuiling it better to liiis 

 purpofe, the I'^dinb.ugh college have impiMved it much, 

 by the menllruum they have employed in their elixir aloes 

 vilriolicum. Several preparations of it are direfted in the 

 phaimacopjcias, for which fee Elixir, Extract, Hikra- 

 PICRA, Pn.i,s, PowDiiR, TiNCTUKE, and Wink. Lewis. 

 Murray. Woodville. 



Aloe rcf.ila, is a preparation of the focotorine aloes, 

 made by difiolving it in juice of damafli rofes, and evaporat- 

 ing it to the coiilillenee of a palle. Then more juice is 

 added, and the evaporation repeated, again and again. — 

 This has been held a gentler and fafer cathartic than the 

 aloes alone. If this he diffolved in a good quantity of the 

 frefh juices of rofes, violets, borage, and buglofs, mixed in 

 equal proportions, and afterwards reduced by evaporation to 

 its former conllllence, the extrad, thus prepared, is called 

 aloe infuccala, and with the addition of one tliird its weight 

 of cream of tartar, aloe hifuccala tartaiixata. 



Aloe molata, is prepared by means of the exprcffed juice 

 of violet flowers ; and mixed with half its weiglit of cream 

 of tartar, it is called aloe violatu tartaiea. But preparations 

 of this kind are obfolete. 



Aloe is applied by fome writers, to a kind of mineral 

 juice produced in Judea. 



This is called foffile, mineral, or metalline aloe. — Some 

 difpute the exilltnce of any lueli aloe. Others iupjKjfe it 

 to be no other than the asphaltus. 



Aloes, lignum. This wood, by the Indians and Portu- 

 guefe, is called calamba, or calamlac, being the fame with 

 what is otherwife called by medical writers .xyloalots, and 

 agallochum. 



This wood is referred by Loureiro, as we have ob- 

 ferved under the article Agallochum to a dillindt genus 

 called aloexylum, belonging to the order of decandria ; 

 but it approaches fo nearly to that of the Excoecaria 

 agallocha of Linnaeus, that the latter has been fold for it. 

 The tree grows in Cochinchina, the Molucca iflands, and 

 feveral other parts of the Eafl Indies ; and was formerly 

 held in very high eftimation, on account of its fragrant 

 odour, as a perfume, for which purpofe it was applied to 

 cloaths and apartments, and as a cordial medicine in fainting 

 fits, and in cafes of paralytic affection. It is faid alfo to be 

 etfeClual in deflroying the tinea; and afcarides in children. 

 By the Chinefe and Pleathen Moors it was ufed 2S incenfe ia 

 their facrifices ; and employed for letting the moil precious 

 jewels that are wrougiit in the Eaft Indies. It was formerly- 

 deemed in that part of the world of greater value than gold 

 itfelf; and various fables have been invented as totheorigia 

 of the tree that yields it. Some have feigned, that it grew in 

 Paradife, and that it was conveyed from thence by the rivers, 

 which overflowed their banks and fwept off tl'.e trees in their 

 way. Others pretend, that it grows on inacceflible moun- 

 tains, where it is guarded by wild bcafts, &c. The Siamefc 

 arabaffadors brought a prefent ot this wood from their em- 

 peror to the court of France in 1686 ; and thus it became 

 known,. Banhin and many others reckon three forts ef it ; 

 •VIZ. two kinds of Calambac and the aloes-wood, the 

 agallochum of the fliops, the tchinhiang of the Chinefe, 

 thimhio of Camelli, pao de aguila. of the Portuguefe, and 

 frequently called eagle-wood. This is oily, rehnous, com- 

 paft, heavy, of a brown reddidi colour, marked with grey 

 veins, and often pierced with fmall holes, as if it were worm 



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