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Colony, and in the mountains of tropical Africa. Members of the closely allied genera Gasteria and Haworthia, with a similar mode of growth, are also cultivated and popularly known as aloes. The plants are apparently stemless, bearing a rosette of large, thick, fleshy leaves, or have a shorter or longer (sometimes branched) See also:

STEM (O. Eng. staefn, stemn, cf. Du. stain, Ger. Stamm, &c., probably related to " staff ")

stem, along which, or towards the end of which and its branches, the generally fleshy leaves are See also:

BORNE, KARL LUDWIG (1786–1837)

borne. They are much cultivated as ornamental plants, especially in public buildings and gardens, for their stiff, rugged See also:

HABIT (through the French from Lat. habitus, from habere, to have, hold, or, in a reflective sense, to be in a certain condition; in many of the English senses the French use habitude, not habit)

habit. The leaves are generally See also:

LANCE

lance-shaped with a See also:

sharp See also:

APEX

apex and a spiny margin; but vary in See also:

COLOUR (Lat. color, connected with celare, to hide, the root meaning, therefore, being that of a covering)

colour from See also:

grey to See also:

bright See also:

green, and are sometimes striped or mottled. The rather small tubular yellow or red See also:

FLOWERS, ARTIFICIAL

flowers are borne on See also:

SIMPLE

simple or branched leafless stems. and are generally densely clustered. The juice of the leaves of certain species yields aloes (see below). In some cases, as in Aloe venenosa, the juice is poisonous. The plant called See also:

AMERICAN

American aloe, See also:

AGAVE

Agave americana (q.v.), belongs to a different order, viz. Amaryllidaceae. Aloes is a medicinal substance used as a purgative and produced from various species of aloe, such as A. See also:

VERA, AUGUSTO (1813-1885)

vera, vulgaris, socotrina, chinensis, and Perryi. Several kinds of aloes are distinguished in commerce—Barbadoes, Socotrine, hepatic, See also:

INDIAN

Indian, and Cape aloes.

The first two are those commonly used foi medicinal purposes. Aloes is the expressed juice of the leaves of the plant. When the leaves are cut the juice flows out, and is collected and evaporated. After the juice has been obtained, the leaves are sometimes boiled, so as to yield an inferior See also:

KIND (O. E. ge-cynde, from the same root as is seen in " kin," supra)

kind of aloes. From these plants active principles termed aloins are extracted by See also:

WATER

water. According to W. A. See also:

SHENSTONE, WILLIAM (1714-1763)

Shenstone, two classes are to be recognized: (1) Nataloins, which yield picric and oxalic acids with nitric See also:

ACID (from the Lat. root ac-, sharp; acere, to be sour)

acid, and do not give a red coloration with nitric acid; and (2) Barbaloins, which yield aloetic acid, C7H2N20;, chrysammic acid, C,H2N206, picric and oxalic acids with nitric acid, being reddened by this reagent. This second See also:

GROUP

group may be divided into a-Barbaloins, obtained from Barbadoes aloes, and reddened in the See also:

COLD (in O. Eng. cald and ceald, a word coming ultimately from a root cognate with the Lat. gelu, gelidus, and common in the Teutonic languages, which usually have two distinct forms for the substantive and the adjective, cf. Ger. Kolte, kalt, Dutch koude

cold, and /3-Barbaloins, obtained from Socotrine and See also:

ZANZIBAR

Zanzibar aloes, reddened by See also:

ORDINARY (med. Lat. ordinarius, Fr. ordinaire)

ordinary nitric acid only when warmed, or by fuming acid in the cold. Nataloin, 2C17H18O7•H2O, forms bright yellow scales, melting at 212°–222°; barbaloin, C17H1s07, forms yellow prismatic crystals. Aloes also contain a trace of volatile oil, to which its odour is due. The dose is 2 to 5 grains, that of aloin being a to 2 grains.

Aloes can be absorbed from a broken See also:

SURFACE

surface and will then cause purging. When given internally it increases the actual amount as well as the See also:

RATE

rate of flow of the bile. It hardly affects the small See also:

INTESTINE (Lat. intestinus, internal, usually in neuter plural intestina. from intus, within)

intestine, but markedly stimulates the See also:

MUSCULAR

muscular coat of the large intestine, causing purging in about fifteen See also:

HOURS, CANONICAL

hours. There is hardly any increase in the intestinal secretion, the See also:

drug being emphatically not a hydragogue cathartic. There is no doubt that its habitual use may be a See also:

FACTOR (from Lat. facere, to make or do)

factor in the formation of See also:

HAEMORRHOIDS, or HEMORRHOIDS (from Gr. aiµa, blood, and bap, to flow)

haemorrhoids; as in the See also:

case of all drugs that See also:

ACT (Lat. actus, actum)

act powerfully on the See also:

LOWER

lower See also:

PART

part of the intestine, without simultaneously lowering the venous pressure by causing increase of secretion from the bowel. Aloes also tends to increase the menstrual flow and therefore belongs to the group of emmenagogues. Aloin is preferable to aloes for therapeutic purposes, as it causes less, if any, See also:

pain. It is a valuable drug in many forms of See also:

CONSTIPATION (from Lat. constipare, to press closely together, whence also the adjective " costive ")

constipation, as its continual use does not, as a See also:

RULE

rule, See also:

lead to the See also:

NECESSITY (Lat. necessitas)

necessity of enlarging the dose. Its combined See also:

ACTION

action on the bowel and the uterus is of especial value in See also:

CHLOROSIS (Gr. xXwpbs, pale green)

chlorosis, of which amenorrhoea is an almost See also:

CONSTANT, BENJAMIN (1845-1902)

constant symptom. The drug is obviously contra-indicated in pregnancy and when haemorrhoids are already See also:

PRESENT

present. Many well-known patent medicines consist essentially of aloes. The lign-aloes is quite different from the medicinal aloes.

The word is used in the See also:

Bible (Numb. See also:

XXIV

xxiv. 6), but as the trees usually supposed to be meant by this word are not native in See also:

SYRIA

Syria, it has been suggested that the LXX. See also:

READING

reading in which the word does not occur is to be preferred. Lign-aloe is a corruption of the See also:

Lat. lignum-aloe, a See also:

wood, not a See also:

RESIN (through O.Fr. resine, modern reline, from Lat. resina, prcbably Latinized from Greek Pirivrt, resin)

resin. Dioscorides refers to it as agallochon, a wood brought from See also:

ARABIA

Arabia or See also:

India, which was odoriferous but with an astringent and See also:

BITTER, KARL THEODORE FRANCIS (1867– )

bitter See also:

TASTE (from Lat. taxare, to touch sharply; tangere, to touch)

taste. This may be Aquilaria agallochum, a native of See also:

East India and See also:

CHINA

China, which supplies the so-called See also:

EAGLE (Fr. aigle, from the Lat. aquila)

eagle-wood or aloes-wood, which contains much resin and oil.

End of Article: ALOE

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