Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1860-03-13
The Toilet Table.

fer1umery, says an exchange, seems at Hrs
sight very unimportant article, when regarde
in commercial or statistical light. 1t is SO ut
terly luxury, so completely what practical peo
pie would call useless, that few of our fai
readers ever absolutely realize the immense con
sumption of the article or the number of per
sons annually employed in the production o
these delicious little essences which we sprin
kle upon our handkerchiefs, or which imbue ou
pomatum pots and tooth-powders. 1t is almos
incredible that Italy, Turkey, Thibet, Tonquin
the West Indies, and more particularly France
occupy vast tracts of land as ''hower FARMS" TO
the express purpose of converting the multitudi
nous blossoms into a myriad of perfumes; tina
in the South OF France $4,000 people are annu
ally employed in the cultivation and prepare
tion of flowers; that one large perfumer of Gras
Sc and Paris employs, annually, $4,000 lbs o
orange flowers, 10000 lbs. of csssia flowers, 81,
900 lbs. of rose leaves, 80, 900 lbs of jasmin bios
SONS, $4,000 lbs. OF violets, 10000 lbs. of tube
rose, and 10000 lbs of lilac, to say nothing of {
perfect wilderness of lemon, mint, citron, thyme
rosemary, and other oderifsrous plants in pro
portion. Yet it is fact, nevertheless, and the
universal fondness for sweet scents corrobo
rates.
Beau Brummel, the most perfect exquisite
perhaps, who ever lived asserted that mo mar
of fashion should use perfumes, but should send
his linen to be washed and dried on Hampstead
Heath" 1t was certainly an original idea il
that day, more particularly, but neither ther
nor now accepted as universal rule, the remark
may be considered as the very ''poetry of purity
and cleanliness" There is no perfume so sweet
as that impaired by the fresh green grass, spark
ling water, and a brilliant noon day sun no O.
dor nearly fragrant as that which is borrowed
from the bleaching-ground.
To make use of the fair and feeting bios
SONS; to retain by art long after winter would
else inevitably have robbed US of the pleasure
the sweetness Of rose end violet, of mignionette
and tuberose, seems poetcal enough. There is
SO intimate connection in our minds between
beauty and blossoms, that fair girl who car
RIGS with her the delicious aroma of any of the
garden treasures, seems only to have appropria-
ted that which rightfully belonged to her, To
be conscious of the presence of a rose when Ad-
elalde Is approaching, to inhale the odor OF the
mignionette when beautiful Claribella, the little
darling, is close as hand, is only natural. But
all perfumes are not taken from flowers, alas
Musk, that delight of some and terror OF 9th
ers, Is procured from the male musk deer, who
dwell in 1ndia, in China, in Siberia, and Thibet
The substance is remarkable in one respect -
ut has been kept in drawers for more than q
century, constantly throwing forth its odor
without losing any appreciable portion of its
weight. Musk is bad enough; but civet, dear
girls have you ever thought of it? Oivet is
the productions Of the civet cat. What tile
power OF the perfume must be, originally, | can
not imagine for ''it requires to be diluted with
thousand time its voluInina of spirits. 1t is moi
romantic to smell like musk deer or a cive
cat-but chachun a son gout."
Ambergrls,S that perfume so often alluded tG
in the Arabian Nights, is ofanimal origin. The
intestines of a spermaceti whale, the stomachs
of various other voracious fish, yield consider
able quantity; but it is also found floating up
on the water, or lying upon the coast of Cor
omandel and other localities People are at lib
erty to form what sentimental theories they
choose upon the subject, and connect it forever
in their minds with the thousand and one tales
The origin of the use of perfumes in the Eas
is of the most remote antiquity; and still the 0
rental sprinkles the departing guest with rose
water in token of friendship. La Arabia, where
perfumes are much esteemed, they were origi
naly kept in shells, and at a later date in pearl
shaped boxes composed OF alabaser. At th'
present day well-arranged toilette table is on
of the prettiest sights in the world The tiny
crystal bottle, the tempting china jars, the dain
ty boxes, with their painted flowers and gildet
letters, would tempt any one to become a con
sumer of perfumery, and dabble just little il
cosmetisms.