368 
Some  Commercial  A  loins. 
Am.  Jour.  Phaim 
July,  1895. 
formity  and  correctness  in  the  requirements  of  our  official  guide 
with  reference  to  this  substance  as  well  as  numerous  others. 
Aloes,  which  is  the  inspissated  juice  of  various  species  of  Aloe 
(Nat.  Ord.  Liliaceae),  was  mentioned  by  Celsus  and  Dioscorides,  who 
lived  in  the  first  century  A.  D.,  and  it  was  probably  known  for  sev- 
eral centuries  previous  to  this.  Those  persons  wishing  a  complete 
history  of  the  drug  itself  are  referred  to  "  Fllickiger's  Pharmaco- 
graphia,"  and  Pharmaceutical  Journal  and  Transactions,  2d  series, 
Vol.  10,  page  106. 
In  1 85 1  a  crystalline  principle  was  isolated  from  Barbadoes  aloes 
by  T.  and  H.  Smith.1  This  principle  was  analyzed  by  Dr.  Sten- 
house,  who  named  it  aloin,  after  proving  it  to  be  a  neutral  principle 
different  from  the  previously-mentioned  aloetin  of  Robiquet.2  The 
discoverers  of  this  new  substance  mentioned  that  one  ounce  of  cold 
water  only  dissolved  one  grain  of  aloin,  but  that  it  was  more  soluble 
when  warmed. 
In  the  same  year  Jonathan  Pareira3  mentioned  the  possibility  of 
the  existence  of  a  similar  principle  in  Socotrine  aloes.  Five  years 
later  T.  B.  Groves4  discovered  an  aloin  in  this  variety,  and  the  name 
of  the  previously-discovered  principle  was  changed  to  Barbaloin  to 
indicate  the  difference  in  the  source  of  the  two  principles,  which 
resembled  each  other  in  some  respects,  but  behaved  differently  in 
their  deportment  with  various  reagents. 
Still  later,  Nataloin  and  Zanaloin  were  discovered,  the  former  from 
Natal  aloes,  by  Professor  Fliickiger,5  in  1 871,  the  latter  by  Histed, 
assisted  by  Fliickiger,  in  the  same  year,  from  Zanzibar  aloes  (a 
variety  of  Socotrine  aloes  imported  via  Zanzibar).  Zanaloin  was 
afterward  pronounced  identical  with  Socaloin. 
Dr.  Shenstone6  subsequently  extracted  an  aloin  from  JafTerabad 
aloes,  which  he  found  to  be  identical  with  Zanaloin  and  Socaloin. 
He  then  proposed  that  the  confusing  nomenclature  of  the  aloins 
be  changed  ;  Nataloin  to  be  applied  to  the  principle  from  Natal 
aloes,  tt-Barbaloin  to   the    principle  from   Barbadoes  aloes  and 
1  Pharm.  Jour.  Trans.  (1),  10,  page  23. 
-Jour,  de  Pharm.  (3),  10,  173. 
3  Pharm.  Jour .  Trans.  (1),  11,  439. 
4  Pharm.  Jour.  Trans.  (1),  16,128. 
5  Pharm.  Jour.  Irans.  (3),  2,  193. 
6  Pharm.  Jour.  Trans.  (3),  13,  461. 
