EESBARCHES  ON  ALOETINE. 
solution  which,  treated  with  cold  water,  deposits  chrysammic  acid, 
in  the  form  of  a  greenish  yellow  powder,  easily  recognisable  by 
the  magnificent  violet  tint  which  it  communicates  to  ammonia. 
These  reactions  with  cold  and  boiling  nitric  acid  are  character- 
istic. 
After  having  taken  so  much  trouble  to  isolate  the  crystallisa- 
ble  principle  of  aloes,  I  thought  I  at  least  should  find  recompense 
in  the  energetic  action  of  aloetine  on  the  organism.  I  requested 
my  friend,  Dr.  Vigla,  physician  to  the  Maison  de  Sante,  to  be 
kind  enough  to  make  some  experiments  in  this  respect,  caution- 
ing him  that  the  new  substance  should  act  with  ten  times  the 
energy  of  ordinary  aloes.  Here,  I  wTas  completely  deceived  in 
my  expectation  ;  the  doses  were  carried  timidly  to  0.05  grammes, 
and  produced  no  effect ;  then,  successively,  0.25,  0.50,  and  1 
gramme  at  a  time  were  administered.  The  observations  were  to 
the  number  of  twenty-three. 
Of  these  twenty-three  observations,  sixteen  had  a  completely 
negative  result ;  in  two  others,  the  laxative  effect  was  well  mark- 
ed, and,  in  the  remaining  five,  the  therapeutical  action  was  very 
slow,  and  very  doubtful.  All  these  observations  were  made  with 
the  greatest  care  by  Dr.  Vigla,  who  devoted  himself  with  a  good 
grace,  for  which  I  cannot  thank  him  sufficiently,  to  the  experi- 
ments which  I  desired  to  make,  and  varied  several  times  the 
mode  of  administering  the  aloetine.  This  substance  was  given 
to  the  same  patients,  sometimes  under  the  form  of  pills,  some- 
times in  that  of  powder,  or  in  alcoholic  solution  ;  the  results  were 
always  identical.  In  glancing  over  the  list,  we  remark  the  ob- 
servation No.  4,  in  which  a  patient,  who  was  easily  influenced 
by  4  grammes  of  calcined  magnesia,  was  insensible  to  the  action 
of  aloetine,  then  submitted  to  the  action  of  magnesia  a  second 
time ;  he  was  again  purged.  Observations  8  and  16  are  analo- 
gous ;  only,  instead  of  magnesia,  castor  oil,  or  German  brandy, 
was  used  as  a  comparative  test.  I  was  curious  to  try  on  myself 
a  still  more  decisive  experiment.  I  weighed  exactly  2  grammes 
of  aloetine,  and  divided  it  into  2  equal  parts  ;  I  took  the  first  part 
without  subjecting  it  to  any  manipulation :  there  was  no  result. 
The  second  gramme  was  heated  to  100°  C.  (  212°  F.,)  until  it 
was  converted  into  a  small  amorphous  and  translucid  mass,  with 
no  appearance  of  crystallization.     "When  thus  transformed,  I 
