Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XIV.djvu/461

 ROSEWOOD ROSIN 441 ROSEWOOD, the name under which several costly kinds of ornamental wood are found in commerce, coming from different countries and afforded by various known and unknown trees of different species and families. Usual- ly they are of a deep rose color, veined and clouded with dark purple, which on exposure becomes nearly black, and have the odor of roses, which is especially manifested when the wood is worked. The best known rosewoods are from Brazil and other parts of South America, and are from different species of Dalbergia and macharium, of the order legu- minoscB ; they are imported in semi-cylindrical slabs, about 12 ft. long and from 12 to 22 in. in diameter ; the bark is removed, and the trunk split through the centre in order that the quality of the wood in the interior may be inspected, as it varies greatly in the fineness of grain ; varieties which come in short cylin- drical pieces, known as violet wood and king wood, are supposed to be from related trees. African' and Burmese rosewoods are from species of pterocarpus, of the same family. Other countries have rosewoods produced by trees of other families, among which are those of Jamaica afforded by species of amyris, of the burseracece, and Linociera, of the olive family. Rosewood is used for the finer kinds of furniture and cabinet work, but it has less strength than some less expensive woods. Under the name of oil of rosewood or oil of rhodium there is found in commerce a thick yellowish oil, used in perfumery, especially to adulterate oil of roses, and by fur trappers to scent the bait of their traps; this has been erroneously supposed to be from the ordinary rosewoods, but it is obtained from what is known in French commerce as bois de Rhodes, or lignum rhodium ; it is in sticks of 3 or 4 in. diameter, with a strong odor of rose. It is the stems and roots of two species of rhodo- riza, of the convolvulus family, a genus con- fined to the Canary islands. UOSICIUCIAXS, the name of a secret society first known in the 17th century. In Chy- mische Hochzeit Christiani Rosenkreuz (1816), ascribed to J. V. Andrese, there is a story of a certain Christian Rosenkreuz, a German no- ble of the 14th century, who had spent a large portion of his life in the East in the pursuit of wisdom. After returning to Germany he established a secret society, consisting of but few members, which met in a building erected by himself and celled Domus Sancti Spiritus, where he died at the age of 106, after ordering the following words to be inscribed upon one of the doors of the edifice : Post CXX annos patebo. The spot where he was buried was kept secret, and new members were silently admitted from time to time to keep up the numbers of the society. In the " Revelation of the Fraternity of the Holy Cross to the Learned of Europe," a declaration was made that the order had no intention of interfering with the religious or political action of states, but only desired the improvement of mankind by the discovery of the true philosophy ; and that meetings were held once a year to admit new members, and to deliberate upon secret matters. Whether such a fraternity ever ex- isted, except in the brain of the author of the above mentioned works, is an open question ; but the impression that it existed gave rise to fraternities that spread over Europe, and the term Rosicrucian came to be applied to all kinds of occult skill. The fraternity had not been heard of for a long period, when in the latter half of the 18th century interest in them was revived, especially by Cagliostro, who pre- tended that he was a Rosicrucian. See J. G. Buhle's Ueber den Ursprung und die vor- nehmsten Schiclcsale der Orden der Rosen- kreuzer und Freimaurer (Gottingen, 1804). ROSIN, the residue after the distillation of the volatile oil from the turpentine of differ- ent species of pines. It is rather an incidental product of the preparation of the oil of tur- pentine, which, though amounting to only 10 to 25 per cent, of the turpentine (and the rosin constituting the large remainder), is by far the most valuable product. (See TURPENTINE.) The rosin while still liquid is drawn off into metallic receivers coated with whiting to pre- vent adhesion, and from these it is transferred to the casks for shipment. When the distilla- tion is stopped at the proper point, the pro- duct is the yellow rosin, which contains a lit- tle water ; or this may be expelled, and the product is then transparent rosin. By continu- ing the heat the residue in the stills is made brown or black, a variety which in Europe is sometimes known as colophony. Rosin melts at 276 F., and becomes completely liquid at 806 ; at 316 it emits bubbles of gas, and at a red heat it is entirely decomposed. Its specific gravity varies from 1'OY to T08. It is insolu- ble in water, but dissolves easily in alcohol, ether, wood spirit, and both fixed and volatile oils. Strong acids dissolve and decompose it. Chemically it is for the most part a mixture of several resinous acids, viz. : picric, which forms the principal part, sylvic, and colopholic ; sometimes also pimaric acid. These acids are isomeric, having a common formula, CsoEUoOs. They are perhaps formed by oxidation of oil of turpentine. When quickly heated in a re- tort, it distils partly undecomposed, and part- ly resolved into gases and volatile oils, leav- ing a small residue of carbonaceous matter. When the distillation is performed on a larger scale, the gases evolved are air, carbonic acid, carbonic oxide, and carbides of hydrogen ; at a higher temperature the oxygen disappears. The first portion of the liquid distillate is yel- low and mobile ; later a viscid, fluorescent oil passes over, called rosin oil. At a red heat rosin yields a mixture of gases, burning with a very luminous flame, which are largely used in villages and isolated buildings instead of coal gas. Many attempts have been made to bleach the common sorts of rosin, which would