COMMERCIAL  OTTO  OR  ATTAR  OP  ROSES. 
253 
in  either  of  these  places.  The  principal  place  of  manufacture 
he  understood  to  he  the  neighborhood  of  Adrianople,  where  the 
genuine  or  virgin  otto  was  put  into  circular  drums  or  vases,  and 
after  being  stitched  up  in  thick  felt  jackets  were  sent  to  the 
capital  of  Turkey,  where  a  system  of  adulteration  took  place, 
by  mixing  the  genuine  article  with  geranium,  scentless  sandal 
wood,  or  some  other  objectionable  oil.  After  this  adulteration, 
it  was  filled  into  Turkish  otto  bottles,  and  sent  home  here  as 
good  or  bad  commercial  otto,  according  to  the  amount  of  adulte- 
ration practised.  The  tins  were  also  sent  home  intact,  and 
hence  the  reason  why  the  best  otto  was  to  be  had  not  in  original 
Turkish  bottles,  but  in  separate  ounces  or  pounds,  under  the 
term  virgin. 
He  then  referred  to  the  difficulty  of  detecting  the  precise 
quantity  of  geranium  oil  added  to  otto.  The  test  given  was  to 
mix  the  otto  with  pure  concentrated  sulphuric  acid,  but  this  did 
not  answer  the  purpose.  He  submitted  several  samples  of  vari- 
ous priced  ottos  under  the  influence  of  sulphuric  acid,  and  it  was 
observed  that  two  of  the  most  costly,  one  being  26s.  6d.  and  the 
other  28s.  per  ounce  in  London,  were  affected  in  color  by  the 
acid.  The  ordinary  commercial  otto  certainly  showed  a  deeper 
tinge  of  color,  but  what  was  somewhat  remarkable,  the  oil  of 
geranium  itself,  some  of  which  he  also  showed  under  the  in- 
fluence of  the  test,  was  no  deeper  in  color  than  commercial  otto, 
at  present  worth  from  17s.  to  20s.  per  ounce.  While,  however, 
the  acid  thus  failed  in  showing  either  the  fact  or  the  quantity 
of  geranium  oil  as  an  adulterating  medium  in  the  case  of  com- 
mercial otto,  there  was  a  decided  evidence  given  of  the  presence 
of  sandal  wood  oil  by  the  addition  of  sulphuric  acid,  which  he 
proved  by  submitting  a  specimen  of  otto,  which  contained  nearly 
a  half  of  sandal  wood  oil,  as  well  as  by  the  action  of  the  acid 
upon  the  oil  itself.  In  the  former  case  the  color  changed  rapidly 
and  became  very  dark,  while  in  the  latter  the  effect  was  to  pro- 
duce instantly  an  almost  complete  dark  brown  color  approaching 
to  black.  This,  he  thought,  showed  that,  along  with  the  peculiar 
odor  emitted,  the  presence  of  sandal  oil  could  be  easily  distin- 
guished. 
In  referring  to  the  uses  to  which  otto  was  put,  and  speaking 
of  the  large  demand  for  this  article  among  perfumers,  he  gave  a 
