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This species takes its name from the island of 
Soccotra in the Straits of Babelmandel; but it is 
also, and more abundantly, a native of the Cape 
of Good Hope; and is very extensively cultivated 
for its juice in the West Indies. The kind of 
aloes called Soccotrine is made chiefly from A/oe 
soccotrina and Aloe spicata ; and, in common with 
the former of these, it derived its name from 
being first produced in the island of Soccotra. 
Aloe spicata is extensively cultivated at the Cape 
of Good Hope; and it there yields a large pro- 
portion of the soccotrine aloes of commerce. The 
species vulgaris, purpurescens, arborescens, and soc- 
cotrina—though these are regarded by some bo- 
tanists as only varieties of one species—are cul- 
| tivated in Barbadoes and other islands of the 
West Indies, for the production of the kinds of 
aloes known in commerce as Barbadoes, hepatic, 
and horse aloes. The information which we pos- 
sess as to the sources of aloes is still unprecise. 
Within a few years the drug has been imported 
into England from Bombay, Arabia, Soccotra, 
| Madagascar, the Cape of Good Hope, the Levant, 
and the West Indies. Most writers state that 
all the aloes of the shops are obtained from va- 
rieties of the genus nearly related to the species 
called Aloe perfoliata ; but the probability is, that 
aloes might be easily and plentifully manufac- 
tured from any of the species which have thick 
succulent leaves and an arborescent stem; and 
the number of such species, irrespective of varie- 
ties, is about thirty-four. 
Lands on the immediate sea-coast, and subject 
to considerable drought, are esteemed the best 
for the profitable cultivation of the aloe. The 
soil is freed from stones and slightly ploughed; 
and the young plants are set like cabbages, at 
about six inches from one another, in rows a foot 
asunder. Almost any time in the year will do 
for planting; but the usual time is from April 
till June. The plants do not arrive at perfection 
till the second or third year; yet are usually cut 
down within the first. The labourer who cuts 
the plants is provided with a number of small 
tubs; he, with one hand, lays hold of a bunch of 
leaves as near the surface of the earth as possible, 
and, with the other, cuts them through; he in- 
stantly deposits handful after handful in the 
small tubs till all are filled; and he then goes 
over them in the order in which they were filled, 
finds the juice sufficiently exuded from the leaves, 
takes the leaves lightly out and returns them to 
the ground as manure, and empties the juice into 
a jar which holds from four to five gallons. The 
workman repeats this process till his jar is filled ; 
and he has then been occupied from six to seven 
hours, and has performed his day’s work. As the 
juice will keep for two or three weeks without in- 
jury, it is placed aside till a sufficient quantity for 
boiling is accumulated; and it is then boiled till 
it becomes sufficiently inspissated, and acquires 
the capacity of a resinous consistence. But vari- 
ous other modes of manufacture are practised 
ALOE. 
both in Hindostan and in the West Indies; and 
particularly a very tedious method of obtaining 
very fine qualities of aloes by inspissation with- 
out fire-heat. | 
Soccotrine aloes is a glossy semi-transparent 
substance, glittering and blackish in the mass, 
of an orange or reddish-brown colour with a pur- 
ple cast in small pieces or when held between the 
eye and the light, and of a bright golden colour 
when reduced to-powder. It is hard and brittle 
in a low temperature, and yielding and disposed 
to melt in warm weather ; and becomes soft under 
the heat of the hand. The fracture is smooth, 
glassy, conchoidal. It has an intensely and en- 
duringly bitter taste; and, though somewhat 
aromatic, is excessively nauseous. The boiling 
of two ounces of it in a pint of water, will show, 
in any case, to what degree it is adulterated ; for 
all the pure aloes will be dissolved, and the im- 
purities will remain in the form of earths, pow- 
ders, or resin.—Barbadoes aloes is a substance 
varying from dark brown to liver colour, with 
an unctuous feeling.and a strong smell; and is | 
not easily broken, and has usually a dull frac- 
ture. The powder is of a dull olive-yellow colour ; 
and the odour is very disagreeable. It is little 
used except for horses. The Cape aloes, as a dis- 
tinct sort, is a darker coloured substance than 
the Barbadoes, has a stronger smell, is very brit- 
tle, shows a glossy or shining resinous fracture, 
and possesses considerable resemblance to the 
Soccotrine. The Cape and the Barbadoes, how- 
ever, are often melted together into one mass, so | 
as to lose all their distinctive properties; and all | 
varieties of the two, but particularly this mix- 
ture of them, and all sorts of powdered aloes, are 
often adulterated with resin, lamp-black, char- 
coal, and other substances; but may easily be 
tested by the boiling of a small quantity in water. 
It is questionable whether aloes contains either 
gum or resin. Its most important constituent is 
a bitter extractive matter termed aloesin, which, 
according to Traumsdorf, forms 75 per cent. of 
Soccotrine aloes and 81:25 of Barbadoes aloes. 
It yields its medical virtues to cold water, and is 
extensively used as a vegetable cathartic. 
Soccotrine aloes are very uncertain in their 
effects on cattle, and altogether unsuited to vet- 
erinary practice; but are very extensively used, 
both by physicians and by empirics, in the com- 
position of drugs, especially pills and tinctures. 
for the human subject. But they are so very 
active and peculiar a medicine as to require, in 
every case, thorough scientific control, and, in 
most cases, a strong modification by accompany- 
ing drugs. They formed the sole ingredient in 
Anderson’s pills, which were so long in vogue 
throughout the lowlands of Scotland; they con- 
stitute a chief part of the notorious Morrison’s 
pills, which have scarcely yet gone out of fashion 
throughout Great Britain; and they are almost 
universally diffused among the huts and cabins 
and bogs of some parts of Ireland, as the starving 
