t)n Waters distilled from inodorous Plants. 5 



covered that the produce which came from the beak ot 

 the alembic began to differ from that first distilled. Fre- 

 quently We even submitted the water we had thus re- 

 peatedly distilled, to a distillation in B. Mi, and drew oft' 

 only a small portion of it for the purpo-e of ascertaining if 

 by this means we could obtain an article richer in the odo- 

 rous principle ; and, finally, we had sometimes recourse to 

 four successive cohobations with the same view. The fol- 

 lowing is the conclusion we formed : 



Three cohobations were sufficient to saturate the water with 

 all the aroma of the plants distilled ; after which, further di- 

 stillations were of rto service, as the produce was not in- 

 creased in the odorous quality. 



All our distilled waters had a peculiar taste, and the smell 

 of the plants made use of: the latter was very strong. Some 

 few of them were muddy, but the greatest part of them were 

 perfectly transparent. One thing we remarked which ap- 

 peared very extraordinary to us ; namely, that the smell of 

 several of these waters was so very pungent, that one wonld 

 have thought some of them had been prepared from coch- 

 learia or horse-radish root. I shall particularly notice, by 

 way of example, the water distilled from the flower of little 

 centaury. We know that this flower, even when fresh ga- 

 thered, has scarcely any perceptible odour : upon being di- 

 stilled, however, it furnished us with a smell so pungent 

 that we could hardly support it. This water, upon the third 

 distillation, came off" thick, and we perceived upon its sur- 

 face some molecules of a thickish oil of a white colour, hav- 

 ing a very bitter pungent taste. 



Waters prepared in the manner I have stated, are not all 

 equally preserved in good condition : some of them soon 

 undergo an alteration : this is ihe case, in particular, with 

 water of borage. M. Clairon had occasion to remark, that 

 fifteen days after its preparation it began to lose its trans- 

 parency, and a heap of mucous threads was formed in the 

 middle of it, which very soon fell to the bottom and ap- 

 peared like a very slender magma, which was set in .motion 

 by the smallest shaking of the vessel : the water then ac- 

 A S) 



