37o 
Some  Commercial  A  loins. 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
July,  1895. 
"(3)  The  resin  is  not  the  cause  of  the  griping  which  sometimes 
follows  the  administration  of  the  drug. 
"  (4)  Aloin  is  an  active  aperient  and  is,  in  all  likelihood,  the  active 
principle  of  aloes." 
This  same  author,  at  that  time,  favored  its  admission  into  the 
British  Pharmacopoeia. 
Another  writer  upon  the  subject,  A.  P.  Brown,1  found  aloin  made 
from  Barbadoes  aloes  to  possess  effects  equal  to  the  same  dose  of 
the  drug,  and  also  found  that  the  extract  made  from  the  residue 
after  the  separation  of  the  aloin  was  entirely  destitute  of  purgative 
properties;  two  statements  which  seem  to  be  mutually  con- 
tradictory. 
In  1887,  J.  F.  Brown,2  confessed  his  bewilderment  in  regard  to 
the  properties  of  aloin  and  reviewed  the  work  of  preceding  investi- 
gators. 
He  showed  numerous  contradictory  statements,  mostly  thera- 
peutical, and  he  also  asks  for  information  as  to  the  true  properties 
of  a  substance  which  was  said  to  have  the  following  solubilities,  in 
water  :  I  in  60,  I  in  90,  I  in  500,  insoluble  and  freely  soluble. 
The  preceding  extracts  are  typical  examples  of  the  contradictory 
nature  of  the  entire  literature  upon  the  subject  and  it  is  not  sur- 
prising that  the  properties  of  the  commercial  product  of  the  present 
time  should  differ  from  the  properties  attributed  to  it  by  the  early 
investigators. 
The  following  table  shows  a  few  of  the  solubilities  ascribed  by 
different  authorities  to  the  various  aloins  : 
BARBALOIN. 
Sol.  in  Water.  Alcohol. 
Ether. 
Remarks. 
150  C.  150  C 
U.  S.  P. 
Pharmacographia 
1  —  60  1  —  20 
freely,  warm       freely,  warm 
sparingly,  cold   sparingly,  cold 
1  —  470 
insoluble 
SOCALOIN. 
Pharmacographia 
U.  S.  P. 
—  60 
1  —  380 
1  —380 
VARIETY  NOT  MENTIONED. 
Gmelin's  Handbuch 
Gmelin's  Handbuch 
Gmelin's  Handbuch 
sparingly 
1  —  600 
1  —  10 
readily 
1  —  2  (86$  ale.) 
1  — 
8 
According  to  : 
Stenhouse 
Smith 
Robiquet 
1  1877.    Proc.  Amer.  Pharm.  Assoc.,  401. 
2  Amer.  Jour.  Pharm.,  59,  193. 
