The Rose. 13 



size and fine color. The seeds are very numerous and hispid 

 (bristly), and all attached round the interior base of the calyx. 



The useful among the species are the Rosa Canina (Dog 

 Rose), a native of Europe. The flowers are white or palish 

 red, with five obcordate (heart-shaped, with the point down- 

 wards) petals. It grows to the height of about ten feet The 

 fruit is a fleshy, smooth, oval, red berry, of a pleasant, sweet, 

 acidulated taste, containing sugar and uncombined citric acid. 

 The pulp, separated from the seeds and the silky bristles in which 

 they are embedded, is employed in the preparation of a confec- 

 tion, intended as a vehicle for other medicines, [W. and B.l 

 The next is the Rosa Centifolia (hundred-leaved Rose). It 

 grows to the height generally of six feet. The flowers are large, 

 with many petals, of a pale red color, and supported upon stems 

 beset with short bristly hairs. The petals are the portion used. 

 They are extremely fragrant, and have a sweetish, slightly acidu- 

 lous, somewhat bitterish taste. They are slightly laxative, and 

 often administered in the form of a syrup, combined with purga- 

 tive medicines ; but their chief use is in the preparation of rose 

 water [W. and B.], for which take of 



Fresh hundred-leaved roses, six pounds ; water, four gallons ; distil to one gal- 

 lon, and add to it a gill of alcohol for preservation. 



The active properties of this plant reside in the oil and acid ; 

 the former is celebrated under the name of Otto of Roses. On 

 distilling large quantities of the leaves with water, and allowing 

 it to cool, a fragrant butter rises to the surface, when fluid of a 

 yellow color, but white when cold. One hundred pounds of the 

 petals afford in this way scarcely half an ounce of oil. We have 

 detected its adulteration with other essential oils (a practice 

 often pursued by the dealers in the article), by its property 

 of concreting in cool weather, thereby separating from the oils 

 that were mixed with it. By rubbing a drop of this oil with 

 half a tea spoon full of fine sugar, and gradually pouring on it, 

 stirring all the time, a pint of water, you can make a superior 

 article of rose water in a few minutes. 



The fixed sapid matter of the petals has been employed by 

 itself, as a purgative, but we do not think it makes a very useful 

 or safe medicine. The last variety of the Pharmacopoeia is the 

 Rosa Gallica or common red rose. This species is smaller than 

 the preceding, but resembles it very much in the character of its 



