04 THE NEW ZEALAND FAMILY HERB DOCTOR. 
prevention is better than cure ; therefore, avoid anything that 
you find causes acidity; but, properly medicated, the stomach 
ought to tolerate and digest the usual run of food. 
CATHARTICS. 
The remedies belonging to this class are very numerous, 
They act on the stomach and bowels in two distinct ways; Ist, 
by passing out of the stomach quickly, and causing a secretion 
of the watery elements of the blood along the course of the 
intestines. This is the class called Salines. Epsom Salts 
stand first in efficacy. A solution taken warm on an empty 
stomach causes a very quick and watery motion. We will 
speak more fully of salines in our chapter on the medicines of 
the faculty. Vegetable cathartics as a rule produce their 
effects through the blood, liver, and bile. Some of them have 
other properties, which we will name in this chapter, as it 
would take up valuable space to mention them often. 
The first on this list is the old and world-renowned 
ALOE, 
Mentioned in Scripture and in the earliest books of medicine. 
It grows in various parts of the world ; there are several species 
of it named after the country where it is grown. Socotrine is 
the kind held in highest favour. The plant is described as 
growing about 18 inches in height, woody and leafless below, 
where it is very rough from the remains of former leaves. It 
is surrounded at the top by several sharp-pointed spear-leaves 
curved inward at the point, with numerous small white lines 
at the edges. Its flowers are scarlet at the base, pale and 
