138 
ATTAR  OP  ROSE. 
The  author  considers  that  an  attar  of  rose  which  at  a  temp- 
erature of  12-5°0.  (54-5°  Fahr.)  in  a  thin  glass  tube  does  not 
congeal  well  in  the  space  of  five  minutes,  and  which  has  not 
moreover  a  dextrogyre  rotatory  power  of  4°,  should  be  returned 
to  the  seller,  no  matter  how  fine  may  be  its  odor.  That  there 
are  attars  which  solidify  at  10°  C.  (50°  Fahr.)  and  yet  are  genu- 
ine (owing,  for  instance,  to  faultily  conducted  or  to  repeated  dis- 
tillation) is  just  as  true  as  that  there  are  those  which  do  the 
same  at  20°  to  25°  C.  (68°  to  77°  Fahr.)  and  are  yet  of  indubi- 
table goodness.  But  these  are  exceptional,  as  in  the  case  of 
opium,  certain  indubitable  pure  samples  of  which  have  yielded 
respectively  2  and  16  per  cent,  of  morphia. 
To  obtain  attar  of  rose  as  far  as  possible  free  from  adultera- 
tion, the  author  recommends  that  purchasers  should  address 
themselves  to  well-known  and  respectable  firms,  who  possess 
whatever  facilities  exist  for  obtaining  a  genuine  product ;  yet 
with  all  this,  no  firm  would  probably  be  willing  to  give  an  abso- 
lute guarantee  in  respect  to  such  an  article.* 
There  is  still  one  other  kind  of  adulteration,  though  it  has 
actually  no  importance  and  is  only  mentioned  here  for  the  sake 
of  completeness.  It  is  the  addition  of  alcohol.  Attar  of  rose,  as 
such,  does  not  dissolve  in  alcohol  of  85  per  cent.  (sp.  gr.  -835) 
or  rather  the  elseoptene  dissolves  while  the  stearoptene  separates. 
On  mixing  the  two  liquids  one  obtains  a  magma  of  little  crys- 
tals. On  the  other  hand  it  dissolves  readily  in  absolute  alcohol 
which  might  well  be  used  for  the  purpose  of  adulteration,  were 
not  its  odor  immediately  perceptible  even  to  the  uninitiated.  For 
such  a  falsification,  which,  however,  I  never  knew  to  occur  in  com- 
merce, a  salt  of  rosaniline  may,  according  to  Puscher,  be  em- 
*  To  this  excellent  recommendation  should  be  added  another,  namely, 
that  purchasers  should  be  willing  to  pay  a  remunerative  price  for  a  good 
drug.  Some  years  ago  a  quantity  of  attar  of  rose  was  consigned  to  a 
house  in  London,  with  directions  that  it  should  not  be  sold  unless  at  a 
certain  high  price,  but  that  if  no  purchaser  could  be  found  for  it,  a  cer- 
tain proportion  (20  or  30  per  cent.  I  believe)  of  another  essential  oil 
which  accompanied  it  should  be  mixed  with  it,  and  that  it  should  then  be 
offered  for  sale  as  best  attar.  I  remember  the  circumstance  and  had 
samples  of  each  of  the  essential  oils :  that  which  was  to  be  used  for  di- 
luting the  attar  was  the  so-called  Geranium  Oil. — D.  H. 
