274 PHARMACOPEIAL DRUGS 



of a reigning Bey in the interior of Turkey, near the 

 site of the ancient city of Sardis. The following is a 

 brief account of their reception: 



"On entering the home, a change in shoes is made, the 

 street shoes being left outside the door. In the vesti- 

 bule of the harem, on a stand, is found a large empty 

 bowl with a perforated silver top. We extended our 

 hands over this bowl, and a servant poured over them 

 water, with which we bathed first the hands and then 

 the face. A long Turkish towel was then handed us, 

 and afterwards an attendant sprayed our faces and 

 hands with rose water. We were then presumed to be 

 refreshed, and ready to enter the home." 



This use of rose water by Oriental ladies dates from 

 the very earliest period. From the same section of the 

 Orient we find it recorded in Rimmel's Book of Per- 

 fumes, 1867, as follows: 



"Rose-water is still held in high repute in the East, 

 and when a stranger enters a house, the most grateful 

 token of welcome that can be offered to him is to 

 sprinkle him over with rose-water, which is done by 

 means of a vessel with a narrow spout called gulabdan. 

 It is to this custom that Byron alludes in The Bride of 

 Abydos, when he says 



'She snatched the urn wherein was mix'd 

 The Persian Atar-gul's perfume, 

 And sprinkled all its odours o'er 

 The pictured roof and marbled floor. 

 The drops that through his glitt'ring vest 

 The playful girl's appeal address'd, 

 Unheeded o'er his bosom flew 

 As if that breast was marble too.' 



