Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 1.djvu/115

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plant for when the flower ftem begins to fhoot ; from the middle of the plant, (which for the mod part is of a large fize, and grows to a great height,) it draws all the moiflure and nourilhment from the leaves, fo that as that advances the leaves decay, and when the flowers are fully blown, fcarce any of the leaves remain alive ; but whenever this happens, the old root fends forth a numerous quantity of off-lets for in- creafe. Vid. fupra, Mill. Gard. D\6i. in voc. Ray tells us, from Francis Hernandez, that the Aloe is ufeful to all purpofes of human life ; for the wood of it ferves well ■for the uie of the carpenter, and for fences ; the ftalks for timber ; the leaves for covering of houfes ; the nerves and fibres ferve in room of hemp, flax and cotton, and will make fhoes and velrments ; of the prickles are made nails and awls, alfo pins, needles, pikes, and fuch like. From hence alfo (if rightly tapped) may be drawn, fifty pitchers full, of nine gallons each, of which, juice, by diftillation, will be- come fweeter and thicker, till it becomes fugar. The firft Aloe in Italy, was in the garden of Jac. Ant. Cor- tufio of Padua, where it was feen by Camerarius in 1 551 >'. The firfi that flowered was at Florence, in 1586, in the great duke's gardens. About the year 1590, there was ano- ther atPifa; another flowered at Verona, in 1663, in the garden of the Conte Giufti ; another at Rome, in 1591 ; and a fecond in the Farnefe garden, in 1625 ; befides others fince. In France the firHAloc that flowered was at Avignon, in 1599, in the garden of M, Doins ; another was feen at Montpelicr, in 1646 ; another flowered atBezenes inLanguedoc, in the pre- fenceofLewisXIII. and cardinal Richlieu, about the year 1641. — [> Narat. in Hort. Medic, p. n. s Id. p. 10. 15. 86.] In Germany, the firft Ahe that flowered is faid to have been at Augfburg, in the garden of a private botanid, in the year 1 633': lho' fome authors fpeak of one earlier, viz. in 1627, in the Hortus Onoldinus '. The fecond was in the ducal garden, at Stutgard, in 1658 ; it rofe twenty-three feet high* produced forty branches, on each whereof were two, three, or four hundred flowers, in all twelve thoufand k. Another at Chora, in Mifnia, in the garden of count Lecfer in Sahlitz, called by the German writers, the Aloe Chora Sali- tiana, in 1663: another at Sonderfhuys, in Thuringia, in the gardens of the count of Schwartzburg, in 1 664 ; another at Gottorp, inHoldein, in the duke's Garden, in 1668 : ano- ther at Slevens, in Thuringia, in 1669: another in Silefia, in the gardens of the count d'Opperfdorf, in 1662 ' : another in 1687, in the gardens of duke Maurice of Saxony ", re- markable for this, that indcad of a Tingle ftem, it divided into three, all fhot about the fame time, the tailed thirteen feet, and the fliorteft eleven feet high; together they bore 3921 flowers. From the flowers dropped a water, like that which Sig. Scarella, above thirty years after, pretended had never been obferved by any before him, in the Venetian Aloe. To thefe may be added, another Aloe, which flowered at Gottorp, in 1705; another at Leipfic, in 1 700, another at Brunfwic, in 1701 ; another at Gotha, in 1710; another in Brandenburg, in 17 12, not far from Berlin ; another in the gardens of the duke of Wolfenbuttle, in 1701, in memory of which a medal was ilruck ". Others have been obferved at Vienna, in 1723; and at Copenhagen, in 1724 °. Even Sweden is not without inftances of the fame ; an Ahe having been found to bloflbm in 1708, in the garden of the fenator Gyllenftolpe, at Nora in Upland, five miles from Stockholm ; and what is remarkable, notwithstanding the coldnefs of the climate, it began to bloflbm at the clofe of October, and held in flower all the winter, tho' reckoned a very feyere one for that place ' : the thing was celebrated by the wits of Sweden : a collection of poems on the occa- fion has been publilhed ', in which the famous northern poetefs, Sophia Elizabeth Brenneria, makes a diftinguilhed figure. — [ h Ephm. Acad. N. C. Dec. 1. An. 6. p. 339. ' A3. Phyf. Med. T. 2. p. 409. k Eljboltz. Flora. Marchic. p. 16. ' Sachs, ap. Ephem. Acad. N. C. dec. 1. an. 1 . Obf. 90. m Zapf. Aft. Erud. Lipf. An. 1688. » V. Ephem. Acad. N. C. Cent. 7. App. p. 89. feq. ■ Albert. Lex. Real. T. 2. p. 34. t Nouv. Liter. Germ. 1709. p. 295. * Holm. 1709. Fol. See Nouv. Liter, loc. cit.]

For Aloes flowering in England, a late learned writer ■ informs, that none had been known before the year 1729, when that of a gentleman at Hoxton appeared. But this muft be a mif- take : Miller fpeaks of Aloes in our country which flowered long ago ; tho' he does not mention when or where. At leaft if our gardeners came not fo early into the culture of the plant, as the Germans or Italians, they have made amends for it ; there being no country in Europe, where the flower of Aloes is lefs unufual than among us of late. In the year 173 r, if we do not mifremember, there were two Aloes in bloflbm at the fame time, within two miles of each other, one at Peckham, in Surry, in the lord Trevor's garden, the other at Greenwich'. — [' Aft. Phyf. Med. Acad. N. C. T. 2. p. 409. ' V. Month. Magaz. T. 1. p. 401.] Some Aloes are atborefcent, inclining to make large trees, breaking forth into branches ; others are fo fmall, that a. whole plant does not exceed the bignefs of a crown piece. Some grow clofe to the ground, others are more afpiring, and have their crown of leaves raifed upon a ftem, fbmewhat

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above the earth. The kind mod common in our hardens, with fome few other forts, are brought from America ; but the greated varieties, and as fome think, the bed kinds, come from Africa, chiefly from the Cape of Good Hope. Bradley allures us, he has feen above fixty different kinds of Aloes 111 the phyfic-garden of Amfterdam, chiefly the product, of the Cape ; fome of them have been railed from feed from that place, and others from young plants riling from the roots, or putting forth from the linns. They are ufed with great tender- nefs ; tho' the author lad mentioned fays, he has found them a hardy plant, and that of forty forts which he has cultivated in England, he has not loft one by cold. Bradley, Improv. Gard. P. 3. c. 5. p. 267. feq.

The two kinds mod confiderable, the one for its curiofity, the other for its ufe, are the Aloe Americana, or flowering Aloe, and the Aloe Afiatica, or drug Aloe. Concerning the hiflory of the Aloe, fee Muttt. Aloedar. paffim. Ray, Hid. Plant, p. 1 195—1200. The divers Ipeoies of it, Miller, Gard. Diet, in voc. Jour, des Scav. T. 36. p. 46. Its culture, Bradley, New Improv. Gard. P. 3. p. 269. Mil- ler, loc. cit. Spanilh Aloe, Sachs, de Aloe. See Ephem. Acad. N. C. Dec. 1. An. 1. p. 182. African Ahe at Padua, Giorn. de Letter, d'ltal. T. 4. p. 103.

Several have written exprefslv on the American Aloes ; Sca- rella < on the Venetian ; Sach's on the Silefian » and Chora- Sahtian x ; Zopfius on the Saxon r ; Schroeckius a on the Au- guftan Aloes ; Bejer " on the propagation of the Aloes by feed. Many particulars, on the fame fubjea, are occafionally given by pbyfiologifls, botanifts, &c. » b — ['Breve Ragguaglio diGiam- balijia Scarella interne alficre deli Aloe Americana Padova,pcr G. B. Conzatti. An. 17 10. 8°. p. 56. Giorn. de Letter, d' Ital. T. 4. p. 87. « Phil. Jac. Sachs a Lewenhiamb. Obferv. de Aloe Silefiaca fiorefcente. Ephem. Acad. N. C. Dec. I. An. 1. Obf. 90. p. 182. * Ejufd. Aloe Cbora-Salitiam ubi fupr. Obf. gr. p. 191, f eq . 1 Gal. Zopfii. Epift. Aloes Americana, praat in Saxonix duels, Mauritii Gill. Horto nuper efflornit Hijloriam Complexa. A3. Erud. Lipf. An. 1688. p. 121. * Luca Schreccin Obferv. de Aloe Augujlana. Ephem. Acad. N. C. Dec. 1. An. 6 & 7. Obf. 231. p. 339. " Jeh. Jac. Bejeri de Aloes Ame- ricans per fuum Jcmen fclici propagaiione. A&. Phyf. Med.N. C. Acad. Germ. T. 33. Obf. 177. p. 408. " b See the Authors enumerated under Botany,NaturalHistory,Pi. ant, &c. Particularly concerning the univerfal Ufefulnefs of Aloes, See Hernand. loc. cit.. Sachs de Aloe Silef. p. 190. Ray, Wild, of God. P. 2. p. 280. Nouv. Rep. Lett. T. 12. p. 347. Its defcriptbn and culture. Cluf. Obf. Hifp. 1. 2. c. 67. Cxjalp. de Plant. 1. 10. c. 31. p. 417. Sachs, ubi fupr. p. 183. Ephem. Acad. N. C. Dec. 2 & 10. App. 56. Its figure in the flowering ftate, Aid. in Hort. Farnef. c. 14. p. 94. Camerar. Icon. Plant, pod Silv. Hercyn. §. 5. & in German Herbar. Matbiol. c. 1. p. 231. Its hiftory, Nard. Anton. Radius, Hid. Rer. Mexic. 1. 8. c. 12. p. 270. Pah. Columh. Not. ad Reuh. p. 882. Its Progrefs in Europe, Sca- rdl. loc. cit. p. 6. feq. Ray, Trav. p. 108. Giorn de Let- ter, d'ltal. T. 27. p. 177. Ephem. Acad. N. C. Dec. 2. An. 10. App. p. 56. Aft. Erud. Lipf. 1688. p. 121. Its growth and flowering, Scarell. loc. cit. p. 12, 39, 40, 54. feq; Jour, des Scav. T. 64. p. 571. Noife at its erruption, whether arable? Scarel. p. 48. Giorn. de Letter, p. 101. feq. Nouv. Rep. Lett. T. 56. p. 389. Its growth whether vifible ? Scarel. p. 48. Giorn. de Letter. 102. Arriving at Maturity earlieft near the edge of the fea, Scarel. p. 54. Num- ber of Flowers, Bibl. Germ. T. 2. p. 181. Scarel. p. 39. Leaves three Florentine Braccias long, Scarel. p. 47. Giorn. de Lett, ubi fupr. p. 101. Writers on it, Scarel. loc. cit. Verfes on it, Scarel. p. 52. Epitaphs on it, Sachs, ubi fupr. p. 187- feq. It. p. 193. feq. Reuh. I. 8. c. 12. p. 270.] Aloe, is alfo applied by fome writers, to a kind of mineral juice produced in Judea. Diofccr. in Pref. ad 1. 1. This is called foflll, mineral, or metalline Aloe. — Some difpute the exiftence of any fuch Aloe \ Others fuppofe it to be no other than the Afphaltus'' — [>PA'».Hift.Not.T. 2. 1.27.C. 4. p. 421. V. Garc.ab Hort. Hid.Arom.l. 1.2. Burggr.Lex. Med. T. r. p. 457. b Bejer. loc. cit.] See Asphalta. Aloes, (Cycl.) in pharmacy. — A latewriter defcribes the prepara- tion of Aloes thus : The leaves being pulled from the roots of the tree with the hand, or an indrument, and prefled, diftil a juice, of which juice, the thick parts will fubfide, and the thinner are poured off, and put in the fun till it dries and hardens, in which time it gains a yellow colour. This is called Aloe Succotrina. The thicker part remaining is put into another veffel, and by being infpiflated in the fun, gains a liver colour, and is called Aloe Hepatica. The thicked part is called Caballina, or horfe Aloes. Edrefli, an Arabian writer, gives the procefs fomewhat differently. The people of Succotra, he obferves, gather the leaves of this plant in ' the month of July, and boil them in great caldrons, to extract the juice out of them, which they put into bottles, and ex- pofe them to the fun during the dog-days. D 1 Herbel. Bibl. Orient, p. 727. in voc. Sabr.

Mr. Boulduc, on his analyfis of Aloes, found that the diffe- rence between the feveral kinds was greater than could have. been imagined ; that the Succotrine Aloes, contained not' mors

than