ON ATTAR OP ROSE. 
2 S 9 
1. The temperature at which it congeals. 
2. Its manner of crystallizing. 
3. Its odour. 
In that which concerns the estimation of attar according to its richness in 
stearoptene, great caution and attentive observation are requisite. As the 
stearoptene in a pure state is completely inodorous, an examination as to its 
presence is properly of no real value, for the less congealable the oil ( i. e. the 
freer from stearoptene), the stronger and more agreeable is its odour. Attar of 
rose is used only as a perfume : moreover it contains a body which being itself 
devoid of odour, weakens the intensity of the odorous principle, thus diminish¬ 
ing (taking an economical view) the value of the attar as a perfume. But it is 
not so judged in commerce. In Kizanlik as at all other places, attar is up to 
the present time bought and sold chiefly according to the temperature at which 
it solidifies,—in other words according to the proportion which it contains of 
inodorous camphor or attar-of-rose-stearoptene. Why is this? The answer is 
simple. The stearoptene is to a certain extent one of the constant constituents 
of attar of rose, and an indicator of its purity. If rose-oil be augmented 
by fraudulent additions, its congealing point will be thereby diminished, and it 
will be necessary to increase its crystallizing tendency by the addition of some 
substance possessing properties like those of the natural stearoptene. But any 
such body which is not at once recognizable even by a person of small experi¬ 
ence does not (to the author’s knowledge) exist. 
Almost the only substance at present known with which rose-oil-stearoptene 
can be replaced, or in other words which can be employed to conceal the addi¬ 
tion of another essential oil and consequent reduced proportion of stearoptene, 
is spermaceti. This however effects the purpose in but a clumsy manner, for it 
soon separates, settling down as a solid cake, and forming none of the long, 
light, peculiar crystals which characterize the true stearoptene. It also exhibits 
upon shaking a peculiar iridescent, muddy-looking appearance [ irisirende 
Schlierenbilduiuj~]. The crystals [when separated] melt at 122° Fahr. and leave 
on paper a strong stain of grease. If a sample of attar suspected to be adul¬ 
terated with spermaceti, is placed when near the temperature of congelation 
in a centrifugal machine, the spermaceti if present, will in a few minutes be 
driven to the bottom of the bottle in which the sample is contained : this 
adulteration is thus easily recoguized. Pure rose-oil-stearoptene fuses at 33° C. 
(9T4 C Fahr.), volatilizes completely from paper on careful warming, is specifi¬ 
cally lighter than the elmoptene and much lighter than spermaceti. It is inac¬ 
tive to polarized light. 
Other adulterations, as for instance with margaric acid, are difficult. Al¬ 
though the substitution of other substances for the true stearoptene is easily 
detected, the author has had occasion in many instances to suspect adulteration, 
and often when the corpus delicti has been regarded by connoisseurs and 
chemists as unquestionably spermaceti, he has proved it on closer examination 
to be merely the stearoptene of the attar. 
If the admixture of spermaceti is proved, there is still the question of adul¬ 
teration with essential oil, aud this is in fact much more frequent, and alas ! of 
much more difficult recognition. 
The admixture in question relates entirely to the so-called Geranium- or 
Palmarosa-Oil. That oil of rhodium and oil of sandalwood are mixed with 
attar as stated in many handbooks of Materia Medica, or that such a mixture 
could be substituted for pure rose-oil is for any person who has once in his life 
smelt these oils, simply an impossibility.* It is equally erroneous to suppose 
* The complete disappearance from commerce of true Rhodium Wood, is a sufficient reason 
why tke essential oil which it contains is never now used for the adulteration of attar of rose. 
D. H. 
VOL. IX. 
U 
