Page:Willich, A. F. M. - The Domestic Encyclopædia (Vol. 1, 1802).djvu/59

Rh : for which reasons, and in order to destroy its viscid properties, it should be previously combined with some saponaceous or resolvent medicine, such as a small quantity of alkaline salts, the yolk of an egg, Castile soap, or mucilaginous vegetable extracts.

We have purposely given a more minute account of the medicinal effects of this plant, than the limits of our work will admit, on similar occasions: this exception, however, has not been made with a view to encourage the sale of those aloetic preparations, so generally known and vended, under the name of "Anderson's Pills;" which, like most patent and quack medicines, have unquestionably contributed to increase the number of patients among those credulous victims, who are frequently obliged to seek relief in public dispensaries and hospitals. Convinced of the mischievous tendency thence resulting to the community, we devoutly hope that the wisdom of the legislature will, at length, be effectually directed to the suppression of those destructive practices, the pretended success of which, we almost blush to say, is exultingly related in our daily prints!

With respect to the economical purposes to which the aloe may be rendered subservient, we shall in this place relate only the principal.

It is asserted by an anonymous writer, in the Gentleman's Mag. for July 1754, that a varnish made of the extract of the hepatic aloe, turpentine, tallow, and white lead, or Spanish brown, when applied to the bottoms of ships, is the most effectual means of preserving them from the sea-worm: the discoverer remarks, that a plank covered with this mixture, was sunk with a proper weight and ropes; together with another in an unprepared state, both in an equal depth of salt-water, where the worm abounded; and, upon raising them, after they had remained there from five to eight months, the former was perfectly sound and untouched, while the latter was eaten to a honey-comb. This hint was adopted by a gentleman at Bermudas, who observed the inhabitants employ a few sliced leaves of the plants, from which the hepatic aloe is extracted, in addition to the oil and tallow, which are boiled together, and used in careening their fishing-boats.

Another valuable property of the horse-aloe, beside its being an excellent purgative for horses, is its bitter principle, which renders it eminently useful in watery solutions, not only for preserving tender plants from the depredations of vermin and insects, but likewise for preventing putrefaction in certain vegetable and animal bodies, such as dried plants, stuffed birds, quadrupeds, &c. Proper care, however, should be taken, that solutions or mixtures made with aloe be not exposed to be swallowed by dogs, cats, or other domestic animals, as to them the consequences would be fatal.

Several species of this useful plant have also been employed for manufacturing a ', resembling linen in its texture, and ' of various quality. made shirts of it at Madrid, and, in his travels through Spain, informs us, that the natives of that country manufacture their horse-bridles from the filaments of aloe-leaves. , an Italian, produced from similar materials, different kinds of coarse and fine paper.