ALOES, al'oz. A drug of great antiquity, for we find Dioscorides, a writer on materia medica of the first or second century, making mention of aloe as a substance obtained from a plant and possessing cathartic properties. It is obtained from numerous sources, including Bombay, Arabia, Socotra, Madagascar, the Cape of Good Hope, and the West Indies. The drug is the inspissated juice of various species of Aloe (q.v.). All these are characterized more or less by producing large, thick, fleshy leaves, stiff and brittle, pointed, and generally terminating in a strong spine, filled with a mucilaginous pulp internally, and containing in the proper vessels of their exterior portion an intensely bitter juice, which yields the medicinal substance of aloe. It is obtained, sometimes in the form of tears, by incision, spontaneous exudation, and inspissation upon the plant; sometimes by spontaneous evaporation of the juice, which drops or exudes by pressure from the leaves when cut away near the base; sometimes by evaporating the same juice with the aid of heat; and lastly, by evaporating the juice and the decoction of the leaves. Owing to the great difficulty of determining the true botanical source of any given sample, the following names are made use of in commerce to denote the various kinds of aloes found in the market: Socotrine, Clear, Cape, East Indian, Barbadoes, and Caballine aloes. The only varieties officially recognized by the Pharmacopœia of the United States are: (1) Socotrine aloes (Aloe socotrina), so called from its supposed source, the island of Socotra, near the mouth of the Arabian Gulf. This is the most esteemed of all the varieties used in medical practice. It is a product of Aloe Perryi, a plant from the east coast of Africa, the island of Socotra, and Arabia. (2) Barbadoes aloes (Aloe Barbadensis) is prepared in the West Indies from Aloes vera and other varieties of aloes. Browne's Natural History of Jamaica states that the largest and most succulent leaves are placed upright in tubs, that the juice may dribble out. This, evaporated, is sold as Socotrine aloes; but the common aloes is obtained by expressing the juice of the leaves, boiling it with water, evaporating, and pouring it into gourds; whence this kind is often called gourd aloes. All kinds of aloes have a bitter taste. Aloes is in a great measure soluble in water, and more so in hot than cold water. Aloes contains an active principle, aloïn, and a resin. The varieties of aloïn, named barbaloïn, socaloïn, and nataloïn, are obtained respectively from Barbadoes, Socotrine, and Natal aloes. When employed in small doses, aloes exerts a tonic, and in larger doses a cathartic action. It is considered by some authorities to stimulate the liver, increasing the flow of bile. Others hold that it acts chiefly upon the large intestine. whose contractions it stimulates. It also causes congestion of the pelvic organs. Its action upon the bowels is slow, requiring ten to twelve hours. Both taken singly, and also in combination with other cathartics, aloes is perhaps the most important and the most extensively used of vegetable remedies of its class. Aloes is an ingredient of a number of laxative pills mentioned in the United States Pharmacopœia, and is the important constituent in most of the much advertised patent medicines. When given to a nursing woman it is usually believed to purge the child at the breast. For illustration see Acacia.
AL'OES WOOD, also Agila wood, Eagle wood, or Agallachum. The inner part of the trunk of Aquilaria ovata and Aquilaria agallocha, trees native of the tropical parts of Asia, and supposed to be the aloes or lign aloes of the Bible, They are large spreading trees, with simple alternate leaves. Aloes wood contains a dark-colored, fragrant, resinous substance, and is much prized
in the East as a medicine, and for the pleasant
odor which it diffuses in burning. The resinous
substance is found only in the inner part of the
trunk and branches, the younger wood being
white, and almost scentless. The trees abound
in the eastern part of Asia, especially in Cochin
China, the Moluccas, and neighboring islands.
Aloes wood is not only much prized in the East
as a perfume, but many medicinal virtues are
ascribed to it. The ancients ascribed to it simi-
lar virtues, and so valued it for these and its
fragrance, that Herodotus says it once sold for
more than its weight in gold. It was regarded
almost as a universal medicine. Its very fra-
grance was supposed to have a beneficial influ-
ence, and it was therefore worn about the per-
son. As it admits of a high polish and exhibits
a beautiful graining, precious gems were set in
it; and it was cut into fantastic forms and worn
in head-dresses, etc. There seems to be allusion
to a similar use of it in Psalm xlv. 8, "All thy
garments smell of myrrh and aloes and cassia."
Or perhaps this merely refers to its being em-
ployed to perfume clothing. It was also, from a
very early period, much used to perfume the
apartments of the great. The fragrance con-
tinues undiminished for years. Lign aloes is a
corruption of lignum aloes (aloes wood).
ALO'GIANS, or AL'OGI (Med. Lat. alogiaiii.
alogi, from Gk. a, a, priv. -f- 2.6yo^, logos, word,
reason). A small and obscure sect of heretics in
the second century who opposed the Montanists
(q.v.). denying that Christ was the Logos and
ascribing the Gospel of St. John and the Apoca-
lypse to the Gnostic Cerinthus.
ALON'ZO THE BRAVE AND THE FAIR IM'OGENE. A ballad by M. G. Lewis (q.v.), known as "Monk" Lewis.
AL'OPE'CIA (Gk. (
Greek characters), alopex, a fox,
because bald patches are supposed to be common
among foxes). A disease which causes a falling
off of the hair from any part of the body. See Baldness.
AL'OPECU'RUS. See Meadow Grass.
ALORA, a'16-ra. A town of Andalusia, Spain,
in Malaga province, 18 miles northwest of
Malaga. It stands on an elevated site near the
right bank of the Guadalhorce. at the foot of the
Sierra Hocha, and in the midst of a fertile coun-
try rich in wine, oil, and various fruits (Map:
Spain, C 4). Some of the streets are well built
and well paved: some are very steep and irregu-
lar. There are some strikingly picturesque ruins
of an ancient castle. The inhabitants are mostly
employed in agriculture. The medicinal and
mineral springs of Alora are highly valued by
citizens of Malaga, who resort in large numbers
to this place. Pop., 1900, 10,206.
ALOST, ji'lost (Literally, to the east, from
Ger. Ost, east, it being near the eastern frontier), or AALST, illst. A town in Belgium, the old capital of the province of East Flanders, situated on a tributary of the Scheldt, called the Dender, which is here converted into a canal (Map: Belgium, C 4). It is a walled city with
