230 
Barbados  Aloes. 
(Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
}        May,  1909. 
past  the  word  Barbados  has  been  employed  to  indicate  simply  the 
form  of  packing,  not  the  origin  of  the  drug.  Though  this  fact  has 
undoubtedly  been  known  to  many  in  the  trade,  it  is  unfortunate  that 
this  liberal  use  of  the  term  has  come  about,  for  it  has  caused  much 
confusion  and  given  rise  to  much  misconception.  Shippers  in  other 
countries  than  Barbados  have  long  been  packing  their  domestic 
produced  aloes  in  gourds  and  sending  it  forth  to  appear  in  the 
market  as  true  Barbados,  and  it  is  apparent  that  for  at  least  a  dozen 
years  past  if  not  longer  not  a  pound  of  the  genuine  article  has  been 
produced  in  and  exported  from  Barbados. 
Upon  examination  of  the  drug  lists  referred  to  by  Messrs. 
Knight  &  Co.  it  is  seen  that  the  purchaser  of  aloes  labelled  "  Bar- 
bados "  has  paid  considerably  higher  prices  than  for  identically  the 
same  product  labelled  "  Curacao."  This  trade  custom  has  been 
followed  very  generally,  and  is  possibly  not  very  reprehensible  from 
the  ordinary  trade  view-point,  neither  has  it  worked  any  special 
injury  in  a  medicinal  and  therapeutic  sense.  The  word  Barbados 
has  simply  been  diverted  from  its  original  and  true  significance  to 
be  descriptive  merely  of  the  form  and  not  the  source  of  the  drug. 
This  house,  as  others,  has  long  been  purchasing  in  the  London 
drug  markets,  in  Hamburg,  and  elsewhere  Barbados  aloes,  so  called, 
which  in  all  probability  came  from  Curacao  or  other  countries  than 
Barbados. 
Aside  from  any  injury  to  the  pocketbook  which  this  custom  may 
have  produced,  it  has  occasioned  great  confusion  with  respect  to 
our  trade  knowledge  of  the  drug.  Our  Pharmacopoeias  (United 
States,  British,  and  others)  have  perpetuated  the  confusion  in  both 
their  descriptions  and  titles.  For  instance  the  British  Pharmacopoeia 
under  "  Aloe  Barbadensis  "  gives  the  sub-title  as  "  Barbados  Aloes 
(Curacao  Aloes)"  and  makes  no  distinction  between  the  exportation 
from  the  various  West  Indian  Islands.  The  U.  S.  Pharmacopoeia 
as  a  secondary  title  has  "  Aloes  (Aloe  Barbadensis,  Aloe  Socotrina)," 
mentioning  the  botanical  sources  recognized  but  specifying  no  coun- 
try or  countries  of  origin. 
Thus  we  have  both  trade  custom  and  official  sanction  for  naming 
as  Barbados  an  aloes  which  does  not  come  from  that  island. 
And  now  let  us  point  out  an  anomalous  condition. 
The  U.S. P.  is  taken  as  the  legal  standard  under  the  workings 
of  the  Food  and  Drugs  Act. 
The  U.S. P.  applies  Barbados  to  aloes  not  coming  from  Barbados. 
