Am.  Jour.  Phaem.  ") 
Jan.  2, 1871.  j 
A  few  Notes  on  Aloes. 
39 
pares  a  pint  at  the  time,  and  sends  it  out  fresh  and  intensely  bitter. 
I  know  an  instance  of  a  chemist  who  nearly  lost  a  valuable  customer 
in  the  following  way.  He  had  been  in  the  habit  of  dispensing  a  gxij 
.mixture,  containing  gvj  vini  aloes.  When  he  first  prepared  it  he  had 
a  pint  of  the  vin.  aloes  in  stock,  which  probably  had  been  made  five 
or  six  years,  and  had  not  the  slightest  taste  of  aloes  in  it,  but  it 
pleased  the  patient.  At  length  the  stock  was  exhausted,  and  the 
mixture  prepared  with  a  fresh  supply  of  vin.  aloes  recently  prepared. 
The  patient  could  hardly  be  convinced  that  a  mistake  had  not  been 
made  ;  and  it  was  found  that  ^ss  of  the  recently- prepared  vin.  aloes 
imparted  more  bitterness  to  the  ,^xij  mixture  than  the  whole  5vj  of 
the  old.  I  have  tasted  samples  of  dec.  aloes  comp.  concent.  1  to  3, 
almost  devoid  of  bitterness  ;  and  a  maker  of  that  article  informs  me 
that  it  is  a  most  unsatisfactory  preparation." 
The  active  constituent  of  aloes  is  still  unknown.  That  the  purga- 
tive property  is  not  due  to  aloin  was  first  shown  by  Robiquet,  and  is 
proved,  I  think,  by  the  fact  of  its  complete  disuse  after  a  very  short 
trial.  Mr.  Young  says  that  he  has  not  noticed  any  variation  of  power 
in  the  specimens  of  different  degrees  of  bitterness  which  he  has  tried  ; 
but,  on  the  other  hand,  I  have  myself  taken  large  doses  of  the  oxi- 
dized alkaline  solution  of  aloin,  or  of  extract  of  aloes,  without  per- 
ceiving the  slightest  effect. 
There  is  in  Druitt's  '  Surgeon's  Yade  Mecum'  a  prescription  which, 
I  am  informed  by  the  author,  is  the  most  active  form  in  which  any 
kinds  of  aloes  can  be  administered.  Barbadoes  aloes  is  made  into  a 
mass  with  strong  sulphuric  acid,  and  in  that  state  rolled  out  into 
pills.  Dispensing  difficulties  may  have  stood  in  the  way  of  the  more 
extensive  employmonc  of  this  form,  but  if  it  bears  out  the  character 
attributed  to  it,  it  would  seem  that  a  half  oxidized  condition  of  the 
aloes  is  the  most  advantageous. 
The  questions  which  still  remain  to  be  solved  with  reference  to 
aloes  are  numerous.  Amongst  others,  two  very  important  points  seem 
to  me  to  require  examination.  These  are  the  nature  and  properties 
of  the  resinoid  matter,  and  the  cause  of  the  differences  between  the 
several  varieties  of  this  important  drug  known  to  commerce. — Pharm, 
Journ.^  London,  Nov.  5th,  1870. 
