262 ROSE. 



The usual mode of procuring attar in the east, as described by Colonel 

 Polier in the Asiatic Researches, is as follows : — 



" Forty pounds of roses are put into a still with sixty pounds of water. 

 The mass being well mixed, a gentle fire is put under the still ; and when 

 the 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 

 have come over, which is generally done in about four or five hours. The 

 water is to be poured upon forty pounds of fresh roses, and thence are to be 

 drawn from fifteen to twenty pounds of distilled water, by the same process 

 as before. It is then poured into pans of earthenware, or of tinned metal, 

 and left exposed to the open air for the night. The attar or essence will be 

 found in the morning congealed and swimming on the surface of the water 

 This is to be carefully separated and collected, either with a thin shell or a 

 skimmer, and poured into a phial. When a certain quantity has been ob- 

 tained, the water and faeces must be separated from the clear essence, 

 which, with respect to the first, will not be difficult, as the essence congeals 

 with a slight cold, and the water may then be made to run off. If after 

 that, the essence is kept fluid by heat, the faeces will subside and may be 

 separated ; but if the operation has been neatly performed, there will be 

 little or none. The faeces are as highly perfumed as the essence, and must 

 be kept, after as much as possible of the essence has been skimmed off. The 

 remaining water should be used for fresh distillations, at least as far as it 

 will go." 



Medicinal Properties and Uses. — The petals of the red Rose 

 are astringent and tonic, and have been called roborant, reso- 

 lutive, repercussive, &c. It has been remarked, that in some 

 cases, they have a purgative effect, — the result of the excitation 

 produced on the intestinal canal (?) Thus Poterius* relates that 

 he found a drachm of the petals reduced to powder, sufficient 

 to produce three or four alvine evacuations, and this not in a 

 solitary instance, but frequently in the course of an extensive 

 practice. It is probable that this laxative property is constant in 

 the fully expanded flowers, as in those of the Hundred-leaved 

 Rose (R. centifolia). The usual effect of the red Rose is to improve 

 the tone of the stomach, and consecutively, that of the lungs 

 and other organs which sympathise with it. Thus it has been 

 especially recommended in chronic catarrhs, haemoptysis, diar- 

 rhoea, leucorrhcea, &c. Great efficacy has been ascribed to it in 

 pulmonary phthisis, ever since the time of Avicennaf, who states 

 that he cured several cases by prescribing as much of the con- 

 serve as the patient could take, every day. Mesue J, Montana, 



* Opera, p. 515. f Lib. iii. Fen. 10. Tract. 5. cap. 5. 



\ Cap. de phthisi. 



