its fragrance is peculiarly pleasant, and unlike that of any other Oriental spice or plant. It must be remembered that aloes was numbered among the healing gums and was early used for that purpose; and the aloë-tree was therefore considered healthful even in its fragrance. Hence the beauty of the allusion in Ps. xlv. 8, where Christ is referred to, and his garments spoken of as exhaling the perfume of aloes. Not only pleasantness and peace are found in him, but healing for the past and restoration to life and immortality.

The remaining allusion is to the use of aloes in embalming. Nicodemus brought about one hundred pounds of myrrh mixed with aloes, to be used in wrapping the body of our Saviour before entombment, which was the course generally pursued among the Jews, not so much with the expectation of preserving the body as to render it fragrant and to express affection for the deceased. The amount brought by Nicodemus was significant of his great reverence for the Saviour, as from various circumstances it was much greater than was customary to use on such occasions; especially as the embalming of our Saviour's time was not like that of the Egyptians. The associations, therefore, of the aloë are its beauty, its fragrance, and its preservative power. Having been a foreign plant, it has almost, if not entirely, disappeared from the Holy Land. Captain Mangles saw the aloë growing in Petra in Edom during the month of May, and describes it as having in some instances "upward of one hundred blossoms in a bunch;" but north of this it does not seem to flourish.