174 
Jaffer abaci  Aloes. 
(  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
t      April,  1881. 
pyretic  properties ;  in  0'2  per  cent,  solution  it  prevents  the  putrefac- 
tion of  urine,  of  glue  and  the  lactic  acid  fermentation ;  in  0'4  per  cent, 
-solution  it  arrests  completely  the  putrefaction  of  the  blood  and  hinders 
in  the  highest  degree  the  coagulation  of  milk ;  and  finally  in  1  per 
cent,  solution  it  prevents  the  coagulation  of  the  blood.  With  albumen 
it  yields  a  compound  coagulating  at  lower  temperature. 
The  trial  of  chinolin  in  intermittent  fevers  the  author  has  not  as 
yet  made  as,  fortunately,  or  unfortunately,  very  little  malaria  had  pre- 
vailed in  his  neighborhood  during  that  season. — Be7\  der  Chem.  Ges., 
xiy,  p.  178.  
JAFFERABAD  ALOES.^ 
By  E.  M.  Holmes,  F.L.S. 
About  a  year  ago  a  specimen  of  a  drug  known  in  the  Bombay  mar- 
i:et  as  Jalferabad  aloes,  was  presented  to  the  Museum  of  the  Society  by 
Dr.  Dymock.    In  a  letter  received  from  him  in  July  last,  he  states 
<ioncerning  it : 
^'  I  shall  try  and  send  some  small  plants  of  the  Jalferabad  aloe  in  a 
tin  box.  I  want  to  have  it  compared  with  Dr.  Balfour's  aloe  from 
Socotra,  as  the  character  of  the  drug  yielded  by  it  is  similar  to  that  of 
Socotrine  aloes  in  not  giving  a  red  color  ^vlt\\  nitric  acid.  JafPerabad 
belongs  to  the  African  family  who  ^vere  admirals  to  the  Mogul,  and 
they  may  have  introduced  the  plant.  Diiference  of  climate  might 
account  for  the  difference  of  the  two  drugs." 
The  difference  here  alluded  to  will  be  best  understood  by  those  who 
are  familiar  with  the  appearance  of  Socotrine  aloes,  if  the  appearance 
■of  the  Jafferabad  drug  be  here  l)riefly  descril^ed. 
The  specimen  received  from  Dr.  Dymock  is  a  circular  flattened  cake, 
7^:  inches  in  diameter,  and  f  of  an  inch  in  thickness.  Externally  it  is 
of  a-  black  color,  and  having  a  lustre  not  unlike  that  of  pitch,  to  which 
at  first  sight  the  aloe  bears  some  resemblance.  The  fracture  is  black 
and  glassy,  and  very  slightly  porous,  as  if  heat  had  been  used  in  its 
preparation.  The  powder,  when  two  pieces  are  rubbed  together,  is  of 
^  pale  brown  hue.  When  the  glassy  broken  surface  is  breathed  on,  it 
becomes,  after  a  time,  of  a  brownish  hue,  and  under  the  lens  looks 
like  aventurine,  apparently  owing  to  an  immense  number  of  minute 
tracks,  causing  the  partial  separation  of  minute  translucent  laminse. 
iRead  at  the  Evening  Meeting  of  the  Pharmaceutical  Society-,  March  2d, 
1881. 
