Am.  Jo'ir.  Pharm. ) 
July,  1881.  J 
Otto  of  Rose. 
367 
the  progressively  heightened  fusing  point  of  rose  oils  from  different  soiir- 
•ces;  thus  while  Bulgarian  oil  fuses  at  al)out  01°  to  ()4°F.,  an  Indian  sample 
required  68°F.,  one  from  the  south  of  France  70°  to  73°F.,  one  from  Paris 
84°F.,  and  one  obtained  in  making  rose  water  in  London  86°  to  8y.7°F, 
Even  in  the  Bulgarian  oil  a  notable  difference  is  observed  between  that 
produced  on  the  hills  and  that  on  the  lowlands. 
It  is,  therefore,  not  surprising  that  the  culture  of  roses,  and  extraction  of 
their  jierfume,  should  have  originated  in  the  East.  Persia  produced  rose 
water  at  an  early  date,  and  the  town  of  Nisibin,  nortliwest  of  Mosul,  was 
famous  for  it  in  the  fourteenth  century.  8hiraz,  in  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury, prepared  both  rose  water  and  otto  for  export  to  other  parts  of  Persia 
as  well  as  all  over  India.  The  Perso-Indian  trade  in  rose  oil,  which  con- 
tinued to  i)ossess  consideral)le  importance  in  tlie  third  quarter  of  the 
eighteenth  century,  is  declining,  and  has  nearly  disappeared;  but  the 
shipments  of  rose  water  still  maintain  a  respectable  figure.  The  value,  in 
rupees,  of  the  exports  of  rose  water  from  Bushire  in  1879  was — 4,000  to 
India,  1,500  to  Java,  .200  to  Aden  and  the  Red  Sea,  1,000  to  Muscat  and 
dependencies,  200  to  Arab  coast  of  Persian  Gulf  and  Bahrein,  200  to  Per- 
sian coast  and  Mekran,  and  1,000  to  Zanzibar.  Similar  statistics  relating 
to  Lingah,  in  the  same  year,  show — Otto:  400  to  Arab  coast  of  Persian 
Gulf  and  Bahrein,  and  250  to  Persian  coast  and  Mekran.  And  Bahrein, 
Persian  otto :  2,200  to  Koweit,  Busrah  and  Bagdad ;  rose-water :  200  to  Arab 
€oast  of  Persian  Gulf,  and  1,000  to  Koweit,  Busrah  and  Bagdad. 
India  itself  has  a  considerable  area  devoted  to  rose  gardens,  as  at  Ghazi- 
pur,  Lahore,  Amritzur,  and  other  j^laces,  the  kind  of  rose  being  B.  damas- 
eena,  according  to  Brandis.  Both  rose  water  and  otto  are  produced.  The 
flowers  are  distilled  with  double  their  weight  of  water  in  clay  stills;  the 
rose  water  [goolabi  j^ani)  thus  obtained  is  placed  in  shallow  vessels,  cov- 
ered with  moist  muslin  to  keep  out  dust  and  flies,  and  exposed  all  night  to 
the  cool  air  or  fanned.  In  the  morning,  the  film  of  oil  which  has  collected 
on  the  top  is  skimmed  off'  by  a  feather,  and  transferred  to  a  small  j^liial. 
This  is  repeated  for  several  nights,  till  almost  the  whole  of  the  oil  lias  sep- 
arated. The  quantity  of  the  product  varies  much,  and  .three  different 
authorities  give  the  following  figures :  (a)  20,000  roses  to  make  one  rupee's 
weight  (176  grains)  of  otto;  (6)  200,000  to  make  the  same  w^eight;,  (c)  1,000 
roses  afford  less  than  two  grains  of  otto.  The  color  ranges  from  green  to 
bright  amber,  and  reddish.  The  oil  (otto)  is  most  carefullj^  bottled ;  the 
receptacles  are  hermetically  sealed  with  wax,  and  exposed  to  the  full  glare 
of  the  sun  for  several  days.  Rose  water  deprived  of  otto  is  esteemed  much 
inferior  to  that  which  has  not  been  so  treated.  When  bottled  it  is  also 
exposed  to  the  sun  for  a  fortnight  at  least. 
The  Mediterranean  countries  of  Africa  enter  but  feel:>ly  into  this  industry, 
and  it  is  a  little  remarkable  that  the  French  have  not  cultivated  it  in 
Algeria.  Egypt's  demand  for  rose  water  and  rose  vinegar  is  supplied  from 
Medinet  Fayum,  southwest  of  Cairo.  Tunis  has  also  some  local  reputation 
for  similar  products.  Von  Maltzan  says  that  the  rose  there  grown  for  otto 
is  the  dog-rose  (i?.  caniua),  and  that  it  is  extremely  fragrant,  20  lbs.  of  the 
flowers  yielding  about  one  drachm  of  otto.    Genoa  occasionally  imports  a 
