X-Message-Number: 17489 Date: Sun, 9 Sep 2001 12:13:22 -0400 (EDT) From: Charles Platt <> Subject: rosewater The rush of CI members to redefine rose water is of course a source of some amusement to those of us who have wondered for years about the technical sophistication of that very well-intentioned undertaker, Barry Albin. But I'm not sure that John de Rivaz is being entirely straight with us when he says that rose water is just distilled water. My unabridged Webster says that rose water is "a watery solution of the odiferous constituents of the rose made by distilling the fresh flowers with water or steam and used as a perfume." So, distillation is involved, but perhaps not in the sense John implied. A Google search yields relatively few hits but does come up with a description of an undertaker dealing with dead bodies after a plane crash last year: "Fifteen victims were buried yesterday at Manama Cemetery, the country's largest. Mohammed Jassim, 45, an undertaker at the cemetery, washed disfigured faces and mutilated bodies with rose water before the remains - still in body bags tagged at a makeshift morgue - were placed in freshly dug graves." (URL: http://wildcat.arizona.edu/papers/94/5/01_20_m.html) Ideally one would hope for independent corroboration on the constituents of rose water from a contemporary British undertaker, but since today is Sunday, and I am about to head out to the Alcor AGM, it's not an ideal time to start making phone calls. Perhaps some British CryoNet reader can call his local funeral chapel and find the definitive answer to this vital question. Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=17489