286 
ON ATTAR OF ROSE. 
solved ; and it would, therefore be necessary, unless the cylinder and plunger 
are coated with platinum, to note the deflections with a much smaller battery- 
power, and to keep the key depressed no longer than is necessary. 
This effect of electrolysis might, nevertheless, in some cases be of great ser¬ 
vice, since it might afford a characteristic of the adulterating ingredient. It 
would be extremely interesting in some points of physico-chemical research, 
where the production of chemical compounds is brought about by electrifica¬ 
tion, to place a galvanometer between the battery and the electrolyte. This 
would furnish some information as to the rapidity of the decomposition ; and, 
in cases where intermediate compounds are produced, w ould be still more 
useful. 
With the isomeric hydrocarbons, it appears quite possible by this means 
to obtain some information on the physical condition of matter involving this 
singular chemical phenomenon. 
Minotti’s battery, as used for these tests, is constructed thus:— 
A glass jar, about four inches high and three inches diameter, is selected. 
On the bottom of the jar rests the copper plate, from which there passes 
through a glass tube the terminal wire. A quantity of coarsely-divided sul¬ 
phate of copper is placed on the top of the plate. A layer of sawdust- over 
the bluestone acts both as the porous medium and a support to the zinc 
plate. The battery is excited with plain water. 
ON ATTAR OF ROSE. 
BY DR. R. BAUR OF CONSTANTINOPLE. 
Translated and abiidged from the Neues JaJirbuch fur Pharmacie, Bd. xxvii., Heft 1. 
(Januar 1867), by Daniel Hanbury. 
Attar of Rose or Rose Oil is the volatile oil obtained on the southern slopes 
of the Balkan by distilling the dowsers of Rosa damascena. It is.called in 
Turkish Guljag ( Gill , rose ; jag, oil).* The word Attar , the author had never 
heard used, nor was he able through the help of his Turkish friends to gain any 
information about it.f 
The region in w'hich the distillation of roses for the sake of attar, was first 
commenced, is according to some India, according to others Persia or Arabia, 
while others again refer it to Macedonia or Bulgaria. The author confirms that 
of which many pharmacologists by profession have long been perfectly aw r are 
that commerce at the present day knows of but one source for attar of rose 
worth naming, and that is the southern slopes of the Balkan. 
The Balkan range extends along the Lower Danube from w T est to east, forming 
an imposing chain of vast mountains wdiich in some places project as gently 
sloping hills into the Tunja valley and in others break off in rocky, impassable 
declivities. At the foot of one of the highest of these mountains and in the 
middle of a splendid valley through w'hich flow r s the river Tunja, lies the Bul¬ 
garian town of Kizanlik, the inhabitants of which are partly Turks and partly 
* This, it must be remembered, is the German way of representing the sound of the Turk’sh 
name. Mr. Bedhouse, the author of a recent Turkish and English Dictionary, writes gliyul 
and yagh. D. H. 
f Yet Attar and Otto are well known to be equally derived from the Arabic Itr (M 
a word signifying perfume, odour, scent; and Attar of Bose is certainly called Itr-yaghi 
(^xb j\ ac) as well as Ghyiil-yaghi (Jb)- 
D. H. 
