, aehleem (aloe-trees), were known to the sacred historians; and both the plant and the inspissated juice are described by Dioscorides[28] and Pliny.[29]
[28] Lib. iii, c. xxv.
[29] ‘Hist. Nat.,’ lib. xxvii, c. v.
Uses, &c. In Africa, the leaves of the Guinea aloe are made into ropes, fishing-lines, bow-strings, stockings, hammocks, &c. The leaves of another species are used to catch and hold rain-water. The expressed juice and decoction are also used by the natives as a distaff. (Vide infrà.) Comparative trials, made in Paris, of the strength of cordage and cables formed of hemp, and of the aloe from Algiers, are said to have shown the great superiority of the latter. Fabroni obtained a fine violet colour from the recent juice of the aloe, which has been proposed as a dye for silk.[30]
[30] ‘Annales de Chimie,’ xxv, 305.
American Aloe. The agave Americana (Linn.) is a plant unconnected with the preceding, and belonging to the nat. ord. Bromeliaceæ. It is found in all parts of tropical America, and is largely cultivated on the shores of the Mediterranean; and less frequently, as an exotic plant in this country. It grows to the height of about 20 feet, and takes many years to produce its gigantic and magnificent pyramid of flowers; shortly after which it perishes, exhausted, as it were, by its efforts in bestowing its rare beauty on the floral world. The vulgar belief is that it blossoms only once in a century; but, as stated by the late Mr Loudon, it flowers sooner or later according to the culture bestowed on it. Its sap yields a kind of honey (AGAVE HONEY), and by fermentation an intoxicating liquor (PULQUE); desiccated juice, mixed with wood ashes, is used as soap, and lathers either with sea or fresh water; leaf-fibre, used as hemp to make thread and twine.
AL′OE-RESIN. Syn. Resi′na Al′oës, L. The resinous matter deposited by a decoction of aloes as it cools.
Prep. (Ph. L. 1746.) Boil aloes, 1 part, in water, 8 parts, and allow the decoction, strained whilst hot, to repose until the next day; then wash the deposited RESIN, and dry it by a gentle heat. It is probably a mixture of aloine and oxidised extractive.
AL′OES (-ōze). Syn. Bitt′er Aloes‡; Al′oë (-o-ē), L.; Aloès, Suc d’Aloès, Fr.; Aloe, Glausinde Aloe, Ger.[31] The inspissated juice or extract of several species of aloe.
[31] Also see Aloe, (above).