Aloe socotrina (Aloe ferox) - Aloe Perryi
"CONSTITUENTS: Aloin, resin, volatile oil. Aloinum, Aloin. This is a crystalline substance obtained from Aloes, of a yellowish-brown color; odorless and with the taste of Aloes. It is twice as active as Aloes and produces less griping. Dose: from two to five grains.
Therapy: If administered to a nursing mother it will produce a cathartic effect upon the infant. It is a constituent of the larger proportion of the carthartic pills on the market.
If the liver is acting normally a much less dose will produce a cathartic effect than when there is a torpid or an inactive liver.
The agent should be used, if at all, with much care in inflammatory conditions, especially in those of the intestinal canal, as it is an irritant to the lower bowel. It increases the heart's action and the circulation of blood and raises the temperature.
The agent is emmenagogue and abortive in its action and should not be given during pregnancy. It will produce a full menstrual flux in some cases of suppression.
It may be given in simple jaundice with lack of tone; in constipation depending upon weakness of the intestinal tract; where there is plainly deficient peristaltic action, where the tongue is coated, the breath foul, the abdomen full and tumid; where there is inclination to impaction of the colon. It may be given in conjunction with nux vomica and hydrastis, or other good stomach tonics to excellent advantage when these are correctly indicated.
One one hundred and twentieth grain of aloin once every day or two will be of material benefit to those who eat too much, especially of starchy foods and sugar; those of phlegmatic temperament and beer drinkers."
(Finley Ellingwood: The American Materia Medica, Therapeutics and Pharmacognosy, 1915)