OLEUM ROSiE. 207 



C"H 



:ii+2 



has 



not yet been thoroughly effected. The fusion point of the different 



paraffin 



C, yet one sort from 



the bituminous shale of Autun, prepared and examined by Laurent/ 

 melts at 33° 0., and in this respect agrees with our stearoptene. It is 

 therefore possible that the latter actually belongs to the paraffin series. 

 We have not ascertained the correctness of Baur's strange experi- 

 ments (1872, Jahreshericht der Pharm. p. 460), by which he believes 

 to have converted the liquid part of rose oil into the stearoptene by 

 means of a current of hydrogen. 



Commerce — Formerly attar of rose came into commerce by way of 

 Austria ; it is now shipped from Constantinople. From the interior, it 

 is transported in flattened round tin bottles called kunkumas, holding 

 from 1 to 10 lb., which are sewed up in white woollen cloth. These 

 sometimes reach this country, but more commonly the attar is trans- 

 ferred at Constantinople to small white glass bottles, ornamented with 

 gilding, imported from Germany. 



Uses — Attar of rose is of no medicinal importance, but serves 

 occasionally as a scent for ointments. Rose water is sometimes made 

 with it, but is not so good as that distilled from the flowers. Attar is 

 much used in perfumery, but still more in the scenting of snufi! 



Adulteration — No drug is more subject than attar of rose to 

 adulteration, which is principally efiected by the addition of the volatile 

 oil of an Indian grass, Andropogon Schcenanthus L. This oil, which is 

 called in Turkish Idris ydghi, and also Enter shah, and is more or less 

 known to Europeans as Qeranium OH, is imported into Turkey for this 

 express purpose, and even submitted to a sort of purification before 

 being used.^ It was formerly added to the attar only in Constantinople, 

 hut now the mixing takes place at the seat of the manufacture. _ It is 

 said that in many places the roses are absolutely sprinkled with it 

 ^fore being placed in the still. As grass oil does not solidify by 

 cold, its admixture with rose oil renders the latter less disposed to 

 crystallize. Hence arises a preference among the dealers in Turkey for 

 attar of the mountain districts, which, having a good proportion of 

 stearoptene, will bear the larger dilution with grass oil without its 

 tendency to crystallize becoming suspiciously small. Thus, in the 

 circular of a commercial house in Constantinople, dated from luzanlik, 

 occur the phrases— " ^x^ra strong oil,"—" Good strong congealing od," 

 —" Strong good freezing oil; "—while the Srd quality of attar is spoken 

 of as a " not congealing oil" The same circular states the belief of the 

 ^vnters, that in the season in which they wrote, " not a single metical of 



^'''^adulterated oil" would be sent away. 



The chief criteria, according to Baur, for the purity of rose oil arc : 

 ---1. Temperature at which crystallization takes place: a good oil 

 should congeal well in five minutes at a temperature of 12-o C. 2. 

 planner of cry stallizing .—^he crystals should be light, feathery, shm- 

 ^g plates, filling the whole liquid. Spermaceti, which has been 

 sometimes used to replace the stearoptene, is liable to settle down ma 

 sotid cake, and is easily recognizable. Furthermore, it melts at 50 C. 



' ^nn, de ailm. tt de Phye. liv. (1833J 394. - For particulars, see Baur (p. 262, noteS). 



