ale ee 
ROSA CENTIFOLIA. ORD. XXVIII. Senticose. “Aor 
is extremely agreeable, and duceefovk this and’ most of the other 
roses are much used as nosegays: we may remark however, that 
insome instances they have, under certain circumstances, pro- 
duced alarming symptoms.* ©The petals ad impart their odorous 
matter to watery liquors, both by infusion and distillation: six 
_ pounds of fresh roses impregnate, by distillation, a gallon or more 
of water strongly with their fine flavour. On> distilling large 
quantities, there separates from the watery fluid-a small portion 
of a fragrant butyraceous oil, which liquifies by heat and appears 
yellow, but concretes in the cold into’a white mass:-an hundred 
pounds of the flowers, according to the experiments of Tachenius 
and Hoffman, afforded scarcely half an ounce of oil.” f 
The smell of this oil exactly resembles that of the roses, ‘ea: is 
therefore much used as a perfume.” It possesses very little pun- 
* As sneezing, inflammation of the eyes, faintings, hysterical affections, abor- 
tion, &c. (Echtius, in Adami vit. med. p. 72.) Many other instances are related 
by Schenckius, Obs. Med. rar. p. 917. See also Nat. Curios. in various parts, 
cited by Murray, App. Med. vol. iii. p- 160. Persons confined in a close room, 
with a large quantity of roses, have been in danger of immediate extinction of 
life. 7.c. From the experiments of Priestley and Ingenhousz this effect seems 
owing to the mephitic air, which these and mest other odoriferous flowers exhale, 
See Exper. on Vegetables by Dr. Ingenhousz. 
wz + Lewis, M. M. p. 541. 
» The process for making Attar, or Essential Oil of Roses, so much esteemed 
as a perfume, is related in the Asiatic Researches by Colonel Polier, and is as 
follows :—F orty pounds of roses, with their calyces, are put into a still with 601b. 
of water. The mass being well mixed, a gentle fire is put under the still; and 
when fumes begin to rise, the cap and pipe are properly fixed and luted. When 
the impregnated water begins to come over, the fire is lessened by gentle degrees, 
and the distillation continued until thirty pounds of water are come over, which is 
generally done in about four or five hours. This water is to be poured upon 
AO Ib. of fresh roses; and thence are to be drawn from 15 to 20Ib. of distilled 
water, by the same process as before. It is then poured into pans of earthen ware, 
or of tinned metal, and left exposed to the fresh air for the night. The attar or 
essence will be found in the morning, congealed and swimming on the top of the 
water. 
No. 42.—voL. 3. 6k 
