REVIEW OF MOIROUD. 
23a 
Quid sit pulchrum, quid turpe, quid utile, quid non.— Horace. 
Trait'c Elementaire de Matitre Medicale et Pharmacologic 
Veterinaire: par M. Moiroud. Paris, 1831. 
[Continued from p. 169.] 
Purgatives from the Vegetable Kingdom. 
Aloes. —By this is understood the concrete juice, or resinous 
extract, which is procured from several species of plants of the 
genus aloe , and particularly the spica and perfoliata. They used 
to be distinguished as socotrine, hepatic, and caballine ; but they 
are now better known in commerce by the name of the country 
whence they are derived, as the Cape, the East Indian, the Bar- 
badoes. See. The socotrine used to be considered as the purest, 
containing (38 parts in a hundred of the bitter principle, soluble 
in water and alcohol, and 32 parts of resin, with some traces of 
gallic acid and essential oil. The hepatic aloes contained only 
52 part* of the bitter principle; and the caballine, or horse aloes, 
less of the bitter principle, and more of the insoluble resin. 
In the bitter principle resides the smell, the taste, and the 
purgative property of the aloe : the resinous principle is com¬ 
paratively inactive* Long submitted to the test of boiling, a 
solution of aloes loses much of its activity ; and this explains the 
reason why caballine aloes, which are the produce of boiling, 
should be so ineffective or uncertain. It is for this reason that 
the horse aloes has long been banished from the practice of re¬ 
spectable veterinarians. 
Of all the purgatives, aloes is that which is most frequently 
employed for horses: and it merits the preference that has been 
accorded to it; for it is generally certain in its action, although 
somewhat long in producing its effect. Aloes seems to glide 
over the surface of the stomach and small intestines to produce 
its chief action on the larger intestines, the peristaltic motion of 
which it singularly increases. 
Its dose for the horse, when employed alone, is from one to 
two ounces. Administered in a smaller quantity, as from one 
to two drachms, it acts as a tonic ; it rouses the action of the 
stomach, excites the appetite, and favours digestion. It also acts 
as a vermifuge. 
It is particularly recommended to overcome obstinate consti¬ 
pation, unaccompanied by intestinal irritation; or when it is 
proposed to produce a powerful revulsion on the digestive canal, 
as in chronic inflammation of the mucous membrane of the respi¬ 
ratory passages. 
