ALOE.

647

f'ortance, as no evidence is offered that the disease was brought on by"does. The uterus, in common with all the pelvic viscera, is stimulated'y aloes. A determination of blood towards these organs, and a fulness<J the bloodvessels (especially of the veins), are produced, and thusuterine irritation and menorrhagia are apt to be increased by aloes, while111 amenorrhcea and chlorosis it may occasionally act as an ernmena-8°gue. Dr. Wedekind {Rust's Magazine, 1827, Bd. 24, Heft 2, S. 304)Sa .Vs that small doses of aloes often occasion erection, and increase theSe Xual feelings.

The purgative effects of aloes do not arise merely from their localaction on the alimentary canal, since this effect is sometimes producedJ'hen th e medicine has been neither swallowed nor given by the rectum,dhus Monro primus {Works, p. 306,1781) tells us, that the tincture of aloesapplied to a caries of the bone produced purging; and it is said {Mem.e fa Soc. Roy de Med. Paris, tom. ii. p. 162) that an aloetic pill used as4 stimulant to an issue had a similar effect; lastly, applied to a blisteredEfface, it has the same operation. So that the purgative action of aloesappears to be of a specific kind.

According to Dr. Wedekind {op. cit.; also, Lancet, vol. i. 1827-8,h' ®47), the operation of aloes depends on the increased secretion of bile,hich is produced by the specific action of this medicine on the liver.le founds this opinion on the results of various experiments. Thus hea ys, that if aloes be added to purgatives (a laxative infusion and sulphates oda), whose operation is speedy, its effects do not take place for somen ' lu rs after those caused by the other purgatives; and he also asserts, thatj evacuations in the second purging differ from those of the first bothappearance and smell. Moreover, as long as the stools were white ora y in icterus, the aloes did not purge even when exhibited in large^°ses ; but the purgative effect supervened immediately the faecal mattere gan to contain bile, proving that the presence of bile in the intestinalv' u d is a necessary condition of the purgative effect of aloes. But inCroud’s experiment above quoted, no effect seemed to be produced on® hepatic secretion.

^ hi all probability, the increased secretion of bile, the irritation about(j j. e rectum, the disposition to hemorrhoids, and the vascular excitement^ hie sexual organs, all of which are said to be produced by aloes, aree effects of a stimulant action exerted by this medicine over the venous" h ( 'in of the abdomen, and especially of the pelvis.e ~~r. Greenhow {Lond. Med. Gaz. vol. xix. p. 270) ascribes a diuretic. ep t to aloes, and his statement is corroborated by Moiroud’s expe-mnent.

q ‘’ecotrine aloes is said not to be so apt to occasion hemorrhoids as thear badoes kind. Some years since, Dr. Clutterbuck instituted numerousf( Pirirrients at the General Dispensary, Aldersgate Street, which I wit-determine the effects of the different kinds of aloes, but no(i er ence in their operation was perceptible. However, it is probablen 1 Cape aloes is less powerful in its action on man, as on the horse,^ the Barbadoes kind.

^ As a purgative, aloes holds an intermediate rank between rhubarb andt ^a. Vogt {Pharmakodynamik , Bd. ii. S. 334, 2" Aufl.) places it be-qA 011 jalap and rhubarb. From rhubarb it is distinguished by its more'Aidant influence over the large intestines and the pelvic organs : from