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.

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