2. As above, but with the addition of about twice its weight of water; the decoction being strained and evaporated.
Obs. Mocha, Indian, and other common aloes, treated in this way and coloured, are frequently sold for melted or strained ‘Socotrines’ and ‘hepatics.’ The colouring matter usually employed is the precipitated carbonate of iron (sesquioxide), or Venetian red, in very fine powder, with, sometimes, a little annatto. This fraud is not readily detected by mere inspection, by those unaccustomed to these matters; and hence the impunity with which it is perpetrated.
The object in melting aloes is to deprive it of the foreign matters, as sand, leaves, pieces of wood, &c., which the commoner kinds generally contain in large quantities. The action of the heat drives off much of their nauseous smell, at the same time that it deepens their colour, and renders their appearance more translucent and resinous, to the disguise of their original nature. The operation, on the large scale, is usually carried on at night, in consequence of the horribly nauseous fumes evolved, which may be smelt at a great distance, and contaminate the clothes of those engaged in it for a long time afterwards.
AL′OES HEMP. A plant growing in Peru, the East and West Indies, and Mexico (A. Americana, A. vivapara, A. fœtida, &c.), where the leaf is cultivated for its fibre, which is generally of a yellowish-white colour, and used for rope-making.
AL′OES WOOD. Syn. Al′oe-wood; Eaglewood; Agal′lochum (-kŭm), Lig′num al′oës, L. agal′lochi, L. a. ve′′ri, L. aq′uilæ, L. aspal′athi, L.; Agalloche, Bois d’aloès, Fr.; Aloeholz, Ger.; Calam′bac, Calam′bouc, Ind.; Xylo-al′oës†. A name applied to the wood of alöex′ylon agal′lochum (Lam.), a leguminous tree of Cochin China; and, though apparently less correctly, to that of aquila′′ria agallochum and a. ova′ta (Lour.), trees of tropical Asia, belonging to a different nat. order. Both are highly fragrant and aromatic; used in fumigations and pastilles, and occasionally by cabinet makers and inlayers. The essential oil of the wood, dissolved in spirit, was regarded by Hoffmann as one of the best cordials and invigorants known. The same has also been said of a tincture of its resin.
The same name and synonyms are popularly applied to the resin of the above woods (ALOES-WOOD RESIN), of which there are two varieties:—the one, light and porous, and filled with a highly fragrant resinous substance; the other, denser and less resinous. It is an oily concretion in the centre of the tree, the result of disease, which gradually hardens, and, in time, kills it. It is highly fragrant, and is said to be nervine, cephalic, cardiac, and stimulant. The powder is regarded as tonic and astringent. Of all perfumes this is said to be the one most esteemed by oriental nations.
ALOE′TIC. Syn. Aloët′icus, L.; Aloétique, Fr. Of or belonging to aloes. In medicine, pharmacy, &c., applied to any preparation containing aloes as a characteristic ingredient; made or obtained from aloes. Substantively, an aloetic medicine.
AL′OIN (-o-ĭn). C17H18O7. [Eng., Fr.] Syn. Al′öin; Aloï′na, L. The Messrs T. & H. Smith, of Edinburgh, have applied this name to a crystalline substance, which they assert to be the pure cathartic principle of aloes. Their process is to evaporate to the consistence of a syrup, in vacuo, a solution obtained by exhausting a mixture of aloes and sand, with cold water, and then to set it aside for a few days. The resulting dark crystalline mass is purified by pressure between folds of bibulous paper, and repeated crystallisation from hot water. Barbadoes aloes are commonly used for the purpose; but soft or semi-liquid Socotrine aloes, or the unevaporated Socotrine-aloes juice, is probably its best source. Tilden gives the following process for the preparation of aloin:—The aloes crushed small is to be dissolved in nine or ten times its weight of boiling water acidified with sulphuric acid. After cooling and standing for a few hours, the clear liquid is decanted from the resin, and evaporated. The concentrated solution deposits a mass of yellow crystals, which can be purified by washing, pressure, and recrystallisation from hot spirit. After several recrystallisations the aloin is obtained in the form of beautiful yellow needles, which are pretty soluble in water and in alcohol, but soluble with difficulty in ether.—Dose, 1 to 2 gr.
ALOPE′CIA (-sh′ă). [L.] Syn. Al′opecy, Fox′-evil; Alopécie, Fr.; Fuchsraude, Ger. In pathology, baldness from disease, often extending to the beard and eyebrows; as distinguished from ‘calvities,’ or ordinary baldness arising from attenuation of the scalp or defective nutrition. See Baldness.
ALPAC′A. A species of Llama, popularly known as the Peruvian Sheep, an animal intermediate between the camel and sheep, having long silky hair, nearly as fine as that of the Cashmere goat. It was introduced to the British manufacturers in 1834, when only 5700 lbs. of it was imported; but it soon became an important article of commerce, the quantity imported having gradually risen to