150 
ON MOCHA OR BOMBAY ALOES. 
The characters of the Mocha or Bombay extract are as fol¬ 
low :—colour, of a dull liver-brown; fracture, smooth and opaque; 
odour, aromatic; taste, bitter and nauseous; powder, yellowish 
brown. 
In all the samples I have seen there are many impurities mixed 
with the drug, apparently the result of a want of care in its pre¬ 
paration. It is, therefore, not uncommon in this country to re¬ 
melt it, and to strain it, by which it is much improved. In a 
sample sent me, designated beautiful,” and with which I am told 
by my friend that he cannot, of course, supply me in any very 
large quantity,” there are many stones and much dirt. He says 
that he has “ frequently met with a good deal of iron and other 
substances.” Possibly this is an attempt at fraud, as the same 
thing has been practised with opium and the Cape aloes. 
It is imported in cases and puncheons. The cases contain about 
1 cwt. each; the puncheons from 4 to 5 cwt. The market price 
is 60s. per cwt. in bond, subject to a duty of 2d. per lb. A very 
large quantity was imported from Bombay many years ago, and 
no one would purchase it, from its being then unknown to the drug 
trade; and the probability is, that by far the greater proportion re¬ 
mains bonded in London, although much has lately found its way 
into the shops, and the article is rather pushed by many houses. 
Its composition I find to be— 
Soluble extractive. 80 
Resin. 20 
100 
This is independent of impurities, Avhich in the specimen I ana¬ 
lyzed amounted to nearly three per cent. It will be observed that, 
as it respects the active principle, it is almost equal to that obtainable 
from the Barbadoes extract. The sample was an average one: I 
have met with some containing as much as 10 per cent, of impurities. 
From a good specimen of the Cape extract I procured but 60 per 
cent, of extractive matter; the quantity of impurities, however, 
was much less in the Cape than in the Mocha extract. The differ¬ 
ence in amount of the active principle in the vegetable is, perhaps, 
referrible to climate. 
The action of the two extracts—the Bombay and the Cape— 
will be best shewn by contrast in the following tables. The op¬ 
portunity afforded me was such as does not often occur in practice. 
Twelve doses of purgative medicine were administered in one day, 
and all the horses were under my eye. It would have been a dis¬ 
grace had I not availed myself of it. The quantity given to each 
horse was six drachms. The horses were all previously prepared 
by mashes over-night, and an abstinence from hay, this being the 
