150 GARDEN ROSE. 
and brandy. A mucilage of the seeds is kept by apo- 
thecaries, and used in medicine, as more pleasant, but 
it is not so efficacious, as that of the simple gums. 
Quince-trees grow wild on the banks of the Danube, 
but, with much less luxuriance than in a state of culti- 
vation. 
POLYGYNIA. 
164. The HUNDRED LEAVED, or COMMON 
GARDEN ROSE (Rosa centifolia), is a shrub too well 
known to need any description. 
This, the queen of flowers, is one of the most elegant 
and fragrant of the vegetable productions. Its petals 
yield, on distillation, a small portion of aromatic oil 9 . 
together with a water which possesses both the odour 
and taste of the flowers. This oil congeals in the com- 
mon temperature of our atmosphere, and in that state 
is of white colour ; but, when liquefied by heat, it ap- 
pears yellow. So small, however, is the quantity that 
can be obtained, that an hundred pounds' weight of 
the flowers will scarcely yield half an ounce of oil. It 
is in much request as a perfume, under the name of 
ottar or essence of roses ; and, though chiefly manufac- 
tured in the East Indies, is seldom imported from, 
thence for sale, but considerable quantities of it are 
brought from Turkey, at the price of from three to four 
pounds per ounce, exclusive of the duty. That from 
the East Indies, when genuine, has been sold at a much 
more exorbitant rate than this ; but it is not unfre- 
quently adulterated with oil of sandal-wood (55). The 
fraud, however, is easily detected by those who are 
accustomed to the smell of the latter, and alsa 
by the fluidity of the compound. The true ottar of 
roses is undoubtedly the most elegant perfume that 
is known. 
From the petals of this rose are also prepared a con- 
serve and syrup ) which are used in medicine. The 
simple distilled rose-water has little to recommend it 
beyond its fragrance : it is occasionally used to im- 
