rERFUMES OF THE EOSE. 



185 



CHAPTER XIV. 

 PERFUMES OF THE ROSE.. 



At an early period in tlie cultivation of the Rose, and 

 after its admission among the luxuries of the wealthy, 

 human skill was exerted to extract its delightful perfume. 



Several authors have considered the invention of the 

 essence of the Rose very ancient, and have even traced it 

 back as far as the siege of Troy, This, however, can 

 scarcely be admitted, for nothing relating to the essence 

 or essential oil of roses can be found in Homer, or in any 

 other author for many subsequent years. The discovery 

 of these valuable articles of commerce was made at a 

 much later period. If the essential oil of roses had been 

 known to the ancient Greeks or Romans, it would proba- 

 bly have been more particularly mentioned by Pliny, and 

 the mode of preparation even would have been described. 

 In speaking, however, of various perfumes, he says noth- 

 ing of any distillation from the j^etals of the Rose, but 

 simply mentions that, as early as the siege of Troy, the 

 expressed jnice of roses was known, and being mixed with 

 a delicate oil, formed an agreeable perfume. 



In speaking of artificial oils in general, Pliny also ob- 

 serves that the oil of roses was made by simply steeping 

 the rose-petals in oil. According to the same author, oil 

 was the body of nearly all the perfumes used at that day, 

 and for a perfuming substance, roses were most frequent- 

 ly used, because they grew everywhere in the greatest 

 abundance. 



Perfumes of every kind were more abundantly used 

 among the ancient Greeks and Romans than at the pres- 

 ent day. Athenceus, in his JFecist of Wise Jlen^ states 



