OLEUM ROS^. '2iio 



for a day or two, by which time most of the oil, bright and fluid, will 

 have risen to the surface. From this, it is skimmed oft' by means of a 

 small tin funnel having a fine orifice, and provided with a long handle. 

 There are usually several stills together. 



The produce is extremely variable. According to Baur,^ whose in- 

 teresting account of attar of rose is that of an eye witness, it may be 

 said to average 004 per cent. Another authority estimates the average 

 yield as 0037 per cent. 



The harvest during the five years 1867-71 was reckoned to average 

 somewhat below 400,000 meticalsr or 4226 lb. avoirdupois ; that of 

 1873, which was good, was estimated at 500,000 meticals, value about 

 £70,000.3 



Roses are cultivated to a considerable extent about Grasse, Cannes 

 and Nice in the south of France ; and besides much rose water, which 

 is largely exported to England, a little oil is produced. The latter, 

 which commands a high price, fuses less easily than the Turkish. 



There is a large cultivation of the rose for the purpose of making 

 rose water and attar, at Ghazipur on the Ganges, Lahore, Amritsar and 

 other places in India, but the produce is wholly consumed in the 

 country. The species thus cultivated is stated by Brandis * to be i2. 

 daniascena. Medinet Fayum, south-west of Cairo, supplies the great 

 demand of Egypt for rose \Tnegar and rose water. 



Timis has also some celebrity for similar products, which however 

 do not reach Europe. A recent traveller ' states that the rose grown 

 there, and from which attar is obtained, is Rosa canina L., which is 

 extremely fragrant ; 30 lb. of the flowers aflford about 1^ drachms, 

 worth 15s. When at Genoa, in 1874, one of us (F.) had the opportunity 

 of ascertaining that excellent oil of rose is occasionally imported there 

 from Tunis. 



The butyraceous oil which may be collected in distilling roses in 

 England for rose water is of no value as a perfume. 



Description — Oil of rose is a light-yellow liquid, of sp. gr. 0*87 to 

 0*89. By a reduction of temperature, it concretes owing to the separa- 

 tion of light, brilliant, platy crystals of a stearoptene, the propor- 

 tion of which diflers with the country in which the roses have been 

 grown, the state of the weather during which the flowers were gathered, 

 and other circumstances le&s well ascertained. The oil produced in the 

 Balkans solidifies, according to Baur, at from 11 to 16° C. Li some 

 experiments made by one of us ^ in 1859, the fusing point of true 

 Turkish attar was found to vary from 16 to 18° ; that of a sample from 

 India was 20° C. ; of oil distilled in the south of France, 21 to 23°, of 

 an oil produced in Paris, 29° ; of oil obtained in distilling roses for rose 

 water in London, 30 to 32° C. 



From these data, it appears that a cool northern climate is not 

 conducive to the production of a highly odorous oil; and even in 



1 Pharm. Joum. ix. (1868) 286. Central India, 1874. 200.— D. Forbes Wat- 



^ Consular Reports presented to Parlia- son, Catal. of the Indian Department, 



ment. May, 1872. — The metical, miskal or Vienna exhibition, 1873. 98. 



midkal is equal to about 3 dwt. troy=4794 ^ y^^ Maltzan, Beise in den Regent' 



grammes. schaflen Tunis vnd Tripolis, Leipzig, 1870. 



3 Consular Reports presented to Parlia- « Hanbury, Pharm. Joum. xviii. (1859). 



ment, Aug. 1873. 1090. 504-509. .Science Papers, 172. 



■* Foredt Flora of Xorth-vxstem and 



