The object in melting aloes is to deprive it of the foreign matters, as sand, leaves, pieces of wood, &c., which the commoner kinds generally contain in large quantities. The action of the heat drives off much of their nauseous smell, at the same time that it deepens their colour, and renders their appearance more translucent and resinous, to the disguise of their original nature. The operation, on the large scale, is usually carried on at night, in consequence of the horribly nauseous fumes evolved, which may be smelt at a great distance, and contaminate the clothes of those engaged in it for a long time afterwards. =AL′OES HEMP.= A plant growing in Peru, the East and West Indies, and Mexico (_A. Americana_, _A. vivapara_, _A. fœtida, &c._), where the leaf is cultivated for its fibre, which is generally of a yellowish-white colour, and used for rope-making. =AL′OES WOOD.= _Syn._ AL′OE-WOOD; EAGLEWOOD; AGAL′LOCHUM (-kŭm), LIG′NUM AL′OËS, L. AGAL′LOCHI, L. A. VE′′RI, L. AQ′UILÆ, L. ASPAL′ATHI, L.; AGALLOCHE, BOIS D’ALOÈS, Fr.; ALOEHOLZ, Ger.; CALAM′BAC, CALAM′BOUC, Ind.; XYLO-AL′OËS†. A name applied to the wood of _alöex′ylon agal′lochum_ (Lam.), a leguminous tree of Cochin China; and, though apparently less correctly, to that of _aquila′′ria agallochum_ and _a. ova′ta_ (Lour.), trees of tropical Asia, belonging to a different nat. order. Both are highly fragrant and aromatic; used in fumigations and pastilles, and occasionally by cabinet makers and inlayers. The essential oil of the wood, dissolved in spirit, was regarded by Hoffmann as one of the best cordials and invigorants known. The same has also been said of a tincture of its resin. The same name and synonyms are popularly applied to the resin of the above woods (ALOES-WOOD RESIN), of which there are two varieties:——the one, light and porous, and filled with a highly fragrant resinous substance; the other, denser and less resinous. It is an oily concretion in the centre of the tree, the result of disease, which gradually hardens, and, in time, kills it. It is highly fragrant, and is said to be nervine, cephalic, cardiac, and stimulant. The powder is regarded as tonic and astringent. Of all perfumes this is said to be the one most esteemed by oriental nations. =ALOE′TIC.= _Syn._ ALOËT′ICUS, L.; ALOÉTIQUE, Fr. Of or belonging to aloes. In _medicine_, _pharmacy_, &c., applied to any preparation containing aloes as a characteristic ingredient; made or obtained from aloes. Substantively, an aloetic medicine.