Hepatic Aloes (not now officinal), called also East Indian Aloes, has a dark reddish-brown or liver colour; opaque or translucent; usually more or less brittle; possesses an odour not disagreeable; taste very bitter; the colour of the powder is yellow; microscopically examined, numerous small crystals are usually observed.

A fourth variety, called Cape Aloes, the produce of Aloe spicata and other species, is often met with in masses which break with a conchoidal fracture, of a greenish-brown colour, and having some translucency; the powder is of a greenish-yellow tint, and does not exhibit any crystalline appearance under the microscope; the odour is often strong, but not nauseous like Barbadoes aloes.

An inferior kind of Cape aloes has been named Caballine aloes.

Prop. & Comp. A principle named Aloine has been obtained from nearly all the varieties of aloes, it crystallizes in needles, and has the formula C34 H18 O14; it is probably the same as the crystalline matter contained in the semi-fluid form of aloes, and in the Barbadoes and Hepatic varieties; in addition to this principle aloes contain a substance which has been named resin, differing however from ordinary resins in being soluble in boiling water; it is probably formed from aloine by the action of the air: when aloes are acted upon by nitric acid several crystalline compounds are obtained, as Polychromic, Chrysamynic and Chryso-lepic acids, the solutions of which are strongly red and purple coloured. A peculiar acid, named Aloetic acid, is also found in aloes, which strikes olive-brown with the persalts of iron.

Off. Prep. Of Barbadoes or Socotrine Aloes. Enema Aloes. Enema of Aloes. [Not officinal in U. S. P.] (Aloes, forty grains; carbonate of potash, fifteen grains; mucilage of starch, ten fluid ounces.)

Of Barbadoes Aloes.

Extractum Aloes Barbadensis. Extract of Barbadoes Aloes.

[Not officinal in U. S. P.] (Barbadoes aloes, in small fragments, a pound; boiling distilled water, one gallon. Made by exhausting the aloes with water, and evaporating the solution to a proper consistence.)

Pilula Aloes Barbadensis. Pill of Barbadoes Aloes. [Not officinal in U. S. P.] (Barbadoes aloes, in powder, two ounces; hard soap, in powder, one ounce; oil of caraway, one fluid drachm; confection of roses, one ounce.)

Barbadoes aloes is contained also in Pilula Cambogiae Com-posita, Pilula Colocyntliidis Composita, and Pilula Colocynthidis et Hyoscyami.

Of Socotrine Aloes.

Decoctum Aloes Compositum. Compound Decoction of Aloes. [Not officinal in U. S. P.] (Extract of socotrine aloes ninety grains: myrrh, bruised, saffron, chopped fine, each sixty grains; carbonate of potash, forty grains; extract of liquorice, half an ounce; compound tincture of cardamoms, four fluid ounces; distilled water, a sufficiency to form sixteen fluid ounces of decoction after ten minutes' boiling.)

Extractum Aloes Socotrinae. Extract of Socotrine Aloes. [Not officinal in U. S. P.] The same proportions as in the extract of Barbadoes aloes.

Pilula Aloes Socotrinae. Pill of Socotrine Aloes. (Socotrine aloes, in powder, two ounces; hard soap, in powder, one ounce; volatile oil of nutmeg, one fluid drachm; confection of roses, one ounce.) [Pilulae Aloes. Pills of Aloes. U. S. Socotrine aloes, soap, each in fine powder, a troy ounce. Beat with water, into a mass, to be divided into two hundred and forty pills.]

Pilula Aloes et Assafgetidae. Pill of Aloes and Assafoetida. (Socotrine aloes, in powder, assafoetida, hard soap, in powder, and confection of roses, of each, one ounce.) [Socotrine aloes, assafoetida, soap, in fine powder, each, half a troy ounce. Beat them with water to form a mass, to be divided into one hundred and eighty pills. U. S.]

Pilula Aloes et Myrrhae. Pill of Aloes and Myrrh. (Socotrine aloes, two ounces; myrrh, one ounce; saffron, dried, half an ounce; confection of roses, two ounces and a half.) [Socotrine aloes, two troy ounces; myrrh, a troy ounce; saffron, half a troy ounce. Beat the whole with syrup, so as to form a pilular mass to be divided in four hundred and eighty pills. U. S.]

[Pilulae Aloes et Mastiches. U. S. Pills of Aloes, and Mastic. Socotrine aloes, a troy ounce and a half; mastic, red rose, each, half a troy ounce. Beat with water to form a pilular mass, to be divided into four hundred pills.]

Tinctura Aloes. Tincture of Aloes. (Socotrine aloes, in coarse powder, half an ounce; extract of liquorice, one ounce and a half; proof spirit, twenty fluid ounces.)

[Tinctura Aloes et Myrrhae. Tincture of Aloes and Myrrh. Socotrine aloes, myrrh, each, three troy ounces; saffron, a troy ounce. Two pints of tincture are obtained by percolation. U. S.]

Vinum Aloes. Wine of Aloes. (Socotrine aloes, one ounce and a half; cardamoms, ground, eighty grains; ginger, in coarse powder, eighty grains; sherry, two pints. By maceration.)

[Socotrine aloes, a troy ounce; cardamom, ginger, each, sixty grains; sherry wine, a pint. By maceration. U. S.]

Socotrine aloes are also contained in Extractum Colocynthidis Co., Pilula Rhei Co., and Tinctura Benzoini Composita.

Therapeutics. Aloes, when taken internally, acts as a purgative, affecting chiefly the lower portion of the intestinal canal, sometimes causing haemorrhoids. The secretions of the tube are but little augmented, and the action is slow in character; by some observers the bile is asserted to be increased in quantity, and the drug appears to influence the whole portal circulation. Emmenagogue effects also are frequently produced. Upon the upper part of the canal, tonic and stomachic effects seem to be induced when small doses are administered Aloetic preparations are given in cases of habitual constipation, and are of great value from the little disposition they possess to produce a subsequent confined state of the bowels.

In chronic dyspepsia they frequently form a portion of the habitual pill, and may be combined with tonics and stomachics. They are often used as adjuncts to other purgatives, as colocynth rhubarb, scammony, etc, when full cathartic effects are desired, and when there is a defective secretion of bile.

Combined with iron and myrrh, aloes are frequently given in amenorrhoea, connected with defective action of the pelvic organs, and an anaemic condition of the blood.

Aloes should be avoided in cases where there is much tendency to haemorrhoids, or when inflammatory action is present in the abdominal organs.

There appears to be but little difference of action between the officinal species of aloes. Cape aloes, however, which is not un-frequently employed, is less active than the others.

Dose. Of either barbadoes or socotrine aloes, in powder, 2 gr. to 6 gr.; of the extracts of aloes, 2 gr. to 6 gr.; of the compound decoction of aloes, 1 fl. oz. to 2 fl. oz.; of the barbadoes or socotrine aloes pill, 4 gr. to 15 gr.; of aloes and assafoetida pill, 5 gr. to 15 gr.; of aloes and myrrh pill, 5 gr. to 15 gr.; of the tincture of aloes, 1 fl. drm. to 3 fl. drm.; of the wine of aloes, 1 fl. drm. to 2 fl. drm.

Smaller doses may be given as adjuncts to other purgatives, or when the drug is given in combination with stomachics. The watery extracts are considered to be milder preparations than the aloes from which they are prepared.