If the cold Still be used, the Rose Leaves either with the Dew on them, or sprinkled with Water, must be laid on the Iron Plate, and covered with the conical Head. A gentle Fire must then be made under the Plate, and a Receiver luted with a Bladder to the Nose of the Still. The Water will gradually distil into the Receiver, and be strongly impregnated with the odoriferous Parts of the Roses.
The same Method with regard to the Balneum Mariæ must be used in the Distillation of Roses as in that of Orange-flowers, and therefore need not be repeated here. We shall therefore only observe, that Rose-water drawn either by the cold Still, or the Balneum Mariæ, is much preferable to that drawn by the hot Still.
The Essence, or essential Oil of Roses is looked upon as one of the most valuable Perfumes in the World; but at the same Time the most difficult to be procured in any Quantity. A small Quantity of it is made in Italy, but it has always been thought impossible to procure it here; and, therefore, a Method of acquiring this valuable Commodity will not, I presume, be disagreeable to the Reader.
Take a Quantity of Damask Rose Leaves, put them into a proper Vessel, with a sufficient Quantity of Water, adding some mineral Acid, as Spirit of Salt, Vitriol, &c. In this Menstruum let the Roses be digested for fifteen Days; after which put the Whole into an Alembic, and draw off the Water with a pretty brisk Fire. But, instead of the common Receiver, a Separating-Glass must be placed under the Nose of the Worm, and a Receiver added to the Tube of the Separating-Glass. By this Means all the Oil or Essence will float on the Surface of the Water in the Separating-Glass, and may easily be separated from it, when the Operation is finished.
CHAP. VIII.
Of Cinnamon-water.
Cinnamon is a thin fine Bark, rolled up in a sort of little Pipes, from the thickness of a Goose-quill, to that of a Man’s Thumb, and sometimes more, and about two or three Feet long. Its Colour brownish, with a Mixture of red. It is of an extremely aromatic Smell, and of an acrid and pungent, but very agreeable Taste. It is the interior, or second Bark of a Tree that grows plentifully in Ceylon. The People who gather it take off the two Barks together, and immediately separating the outer one, which is rough, and has very little Fragrancy, they lay the other to dry in the Shade in an airy Place, where it rolls itself up into the Form wherein we see it.
The greatest Cheats in the Sale of Cinnamon, are the selling such as has already had its essential Oil distilled from it, and dried again, and the imposing Cassia Lignea in its Place. The first of these is discovered by the want of Pungency in the Cinnamon; the second by this, that the Cassia, when held a little Time in the Mouth, becomes mucilaginous, which the true Cinnamon never does, Cinnamon is a noble Drug, endued, with many capital Virtues; it strengthens the Viscera, assists Concoction, dispels Flatulencies, and is a pleasant Cardiac.
Recipe for one Gallon of simple Cinnamon-Water.
Take a Pound of the best Cinnamon grosly powdered, digest for twenty-four Hours, in two Gallons of Water; put the Whole into an Alembic, and draw over one Gallon with a pretty brisk Fire.
The Oil of Cinnamon, in which the specific Virtue of the Drug consists, is very ponderous, and therefore will not come over the Helm unless the Fire be pretty brisk, especially with a simple Water. It will therefore be in vain to attempt distilling simple Cinnamon-water by the Balneum Mariæ.