ATTAR  OF  ROSE.  135 
these  oils,  simply  an  impossibility.*  It  is  equally  erroneous  to 
suppose  that  the  true  ethereal  oil  of  a  geranium  (as  that  of 
Pelargonium  odor  atissimum)\&  used  for  mixing  with  attar,  and  this 
is  certainly  not  the  plant  whence  the  so-called  Oil  of  Geranium 
used  in  turkey  is  derived. f 
The  Turkish  Geranium  oil  (in  Turkish  called  enter 'schah%)  is 
according  to  the  most  credible  accounts,  derived  from  a  grass  of 
the  genus  Andropogon,  from  which  it  is  distilled  in  the  months 
of  December  and  January  in  the  neighborhood  of  Delhi.  It 
comes  to  Turkey  by  way  of  Arabia,  and  is  sold  here  by  Arabs  in 
large  bladder-shaped  vessels  of  tinned  copper  holding  about 
120  lb.  each.  When  recent  it  is  tolerably  limpid,  bright  yellow 
to  brownish,  oftened  colored  green  through  containing  copper, 
and  very  frequently, — indeed  mostly, — contaminated  by  the  ad- 
dition of  a  fatty  oil.  In  purchasing  care  must  be  taken  to  avoid 
that  which  contains  much  fixed  oil,  or  which  is  mixed  with  some 
other  essential  oil.  An  experienced  nose  and  a  bit  of  cigarrette 
paper  are  all  the  re-agents  requisite  for  determining  these  addi- 
tions. 
The  Geranium  oil  as  it  arrives  is,  however,  by  no  means  in  a 
proper  condition  for  mixing  with  attar.  Its  odor  and  color 
must  as  far  as  possible  be  assimilated  to  those  of  rose  oil,  and  to 
this  end  it  has  to  be  refined.  By  this  process  it  loses  its  pene- 
trating after-smell,  and  according  to  the  goodness  of  the  sample 
treated,  acquires  sooner  or  later  a  pale,  clear  yellow  color.  It 
also  loses  the  property  which  it  possesses  in  the  unrefined  state, 
of  acquiring  a  red  color  (separation  of  Cu20)  upon  long  stand- 
ing. The  purifying  process  is  thus  conducted  :  the  crude  oil  is 
shaken  repeatedly  with  water  acidulated  with  lemon  juice,  from 
*  The  complete  disappearance  from  commerce  of  true  Rhodium  Wood, 
is  a  sufficient  reason  why  the  essential  oil  which  it  contains  is  never  now 
used  for  the  adulteration  of  attar  of  rose.— D.  H. 
f  This  is  perfectly  correct.  True  Geranium  Oil  distilled  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  Cannes  from  a  variety  of  Pelargonium  Radula  Ait.  is  very 
distinct  from  the  so-called  Geranium  oil  of  Turkey  and  of  India,  which 
are  undoubtedly  yielded  by  a  grass  of  the  genusAndropogon. — D.  H. 
%  Is  this  a  corruption  of  Itri  shahi,  a  name  applied,  according  to  Red- 
house's  Dictionary,  to  the  "  scented-leaved  geranium"  as  well  as  to  the 
Siveet  Pea      D.  H. 
