Page:Willich, A. F. M. - The Domestic Encyclopædia (Vol. 1, 1802).djvu/58

34] species require to be kept in an airy green-house, in which there is a stove to make a fire in cold weather.

Among the Mahometans, and especially in Egypt, the aloe is held in high estimation, and even dedicated to religious offices. These superstitious people believe, that it prevents evil spirits from entering their houses: for this purpose, both Christians and Jews place it over their doors; and whoever returns from a pilgrimage, exhibits it as an emblem of his having performed that holy journey.

Its properties are various; and applied to numerous purposes, both medicinal and domestic. The leaves of the Guinea-aloe, as described by M., in his voyage to Senegal, are employed in making very good ropes, not liable to rot in the water.

Dr. describes two sorts of aloe, one of which is used for fishing lines, bow-strings, stockings, and hammocks: the other produces leaves capable of holding rain-water.

In Mexico, there is a species of aloe called the Maguei, which is applied to almost every purpose of life. Besides making excellent hedges and inclosures for their farms, its trunk serves as beams for the roofs of their houses, and its leaves instead of tiles. From this plant, the natives make their paper, thread, needles, and various articles of clothing, and cordage; while, from its copious juice, they extract wine, honey, sugar and vinegar. Of the trunk, and thickest part of the leaves, when baked, they prepare an excellent dish. It is likewise employed by them in several diseases, but especially in those of the urinary passages.

In this country, aloe is principally known as a medicine in the form of an inspissated juice, which consists of three sorts: 1. the Aloe perfoliata, or Socotrine Aloe; 2. the Hepatica, Barbadoes, or Common; and 3. the Caballina, fetid or Horse Aloe. The first of these is the purest, and is brought from the island of Socotora, wrapt in skins. It is of a glossy surface, and in some degree pellucid, of a yellowish-red colour, with a purple cast, and when reduced to powder, of a bright golden shade. In winter, it is hard and friable, but in summer pliable, and grows soft, when pressed between the fingers. Its taste is bitter, accompanied with an aromatic flavour; the smell is not unpleasant, and slightly resembles that of myrrh.

Aloe is considered as a good opening medicine for persons of a lax habit, and those whose stomach and bowels are loaded with phlegm or mucus, and also for worms; because, while it carries off viscid humours, it serves by its stimulating qualities to strengthen and brace the system. When given in small doses of a few grains, repeated at intervals, it not only cleanses the alimentary canal, but tends also to promote the menstrual discharge in women: hence its use in the green sickness, and all female obstructions. We must, however, observe, that, though it be a good stomachic laxative, it ought to be employed with great precaution, being an acrid and heating medicine, and therefore not proper in bilious complaints, or in a febrile state of the body. Its continued use sometimes produces the piles and habitual costiveness. When given in substance, without any mixture, it frequently adheres to the coats of the intestines, where it occasions griping, and ness: