548  RESEARCHES  ON  ALOETINE. 
took  it  eight  days  after  the  first  dose;  the  purgative  action  was 
not  long  delayed,  and  it  was  arrested  only  when  the  digestive 
canal  was  completely  evacuated. 
From  all  these  facts,  it  results  that  aloetine  is  the  chemical 
and  crystallisable  principle  of  the  officinal  juice  of  the  aloes,  that 
it  does  not  possess  the  purgative  property  of  aloes,  and  only  re- 
covers it  when,  by  the  action  of  the  air  or  of  heat,  it  has  become 
amorphous  and  uncrystallisable.  It  occupies  the  same  position 
as  that  which  mannite  does  with  regard  to  manna,  and  santonine 
to  semen-contra,  and  it  will  also  be  the  same  with  cathartine,  the 
proximate  principle  of  senna,  when  it  has  been  properly  isolated, 
for  experiment  has  already  taught  us  that  a  very  long  continued 
decoction  of  senna  produces  a  liquor  which  is  not  so  active  as 
the  simple  infusion,  having,  however,  exhausted  the  plant  of  all 
the  parts  soluble  in  water. 
The  excessive  bitterness  of  aloetine  induced  me  to  try  its  ac- 
tion in  well-characterised  intermittent  fevers,  and  it  seemed  to 
me  that  it  would  be  possible  to  increase  its  efficacy  by  associa- 
ting it  with  a  tonic,  such  as  pulvis  ferri  (fer  reduit.)  Five  cases 
of  intermittent  fever  are  at  present  under  treatment,  and  the 
•first  results  obtained  enable  us  to  perceive  the  efficacy  of  the  new 
febrifuge.  The  doses  which  have  been  given  are  from  10  to  20 
centigrammes  per  day  for  children,  and  from  50  centigrammes 
to  3  grammes  for  adults.  The  compound  powder  contains  1  part 
of  aloetine,  and  two  parts  of  pulvis  ferri.  In  all  the  patients 
the  appetite  was  restored,  and'  the  fits  diminished  each  time  in, 
intensity.  As  the  cure  is  not  complete,  and  as,  in  such  cases, 
we  cannot  be  too  careful  in  drawing  conclusions,  I  will  now  con- 
fine myself  to  taking  data  for  this  new  febrifuge  treatment,  mere- 
ly asking  the  Academy's  permission  to  communicate  the  result 
of  my  observations,  when  the  season  and  circumstances  enable 
me  to  apply  this  kind  of  experimentation  on  a  scale  of  sufficient 
magnitude  to  prevent  the  possibility  of  doubt. 
In  conclusion,  it  results  from  the  facts  contained  in  the  pre- 
sent memoir  that : — 
In  a  therapeutical  point  of  view : — Aloetine,  the  proximate 
principle  of  officinal  aloes,  should  not  be  regarded  as  a  purga- 
tive, or,  at  least,  as  a  very  slow  and  doubtful  one. 
The  opaque  variety  of  aloes  with  a  waxy  fracture,  such  as  Bar- 
