Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1864-04-15
THE EVENING NEWS.
SUPPLEMENT-
The Perfumery of History.

some VINO appreciate lIle stEOHS-siuell.uS
musk, and others who would
die of rose, in aromatic pain"
the definition of perfume becomes mat
ter of some difficulty. However, that is
not our present purpose. 1t Is admitted
that pleasant perfumes exercise cheering
and exhilarating influence Oh the human
system the connection between the brain
and the organ of smell being too close to
allow the former to be uninfuenced by
anything affecting the latter. This. and
other reasons, may account for the fac:
that the use of perfumed drugs dates from
the foundation of history. The walls OF
every temple ill Egypt sufficiently a:te.t
this.
The unrolling of the mummy has placed
in our hands the costly perfumes Of ancient
Egypt, actually used three thousand years
ago, and yet retaining their very odor to
the present day! Their sculptures repre-
sent priests pouring oil over monarchs,
when it was also customary for servant
to attend on each guest, that he nigh:
annoint his head.
From the time of Exodus, the bible re-
cords their use, (thirtieth chapter and
twenty-second verse, etc. Moses Is di-
rected to take up pure myrrh, swee! Gin
namon. calamus, cassia, and oil of olive, to
be compounded latter the art of the h
ecary, for all oil of holy ointment" He
is also commanded to take away sweet
spices, stacte. and onycha. galbanum, and
pure frankincens, wherewith to compound
"a confection pure and holy" The I'M
memse quantity made oil the occasion here
alluded to being no less than seven hun
bred and fifty ounces Of solid compounds,
with five quarts of olive oil, may afford
some idea of its profuse use among the
Hebrews.
We are told by the Psalmist, that when
the precious ointment was poured upon
Aaron's head, it flowed "to the skirts of
his garment" The spouse" in the Can
ticles commends the perfumes of her lover;
the virgins mentioned by Esther used
myrrh and sweet scented oils Judith per-
fumed her face when she was TO appear
before Holoferncs and the voluptuou'
woman described by Solomon, perfImed
her bed with myrrh, aloe., and cinnamon.
Many other passages might be cited. Of
which the most familiar in the New Tes-
lament is contained in the fourteenth chap
ter Of st. Mark, when the Redeemer sat
at meat in the house of Simon the leper:
0There came woman having an ulabas-
ter box of oitment of spikenard very pre-
cious, and she brake the box and poured
it on his head"
Perfumes were described as medicines
BY Hippocrates and other ancient physi-
clans. Assyrians and the Persians are
known to have made great use OF them.
Tyre was famous mart, as was Babylon,
for the supply of the interior. The Greeks
were familiar with their use. They an
noiuted themselves several times daily,
that the delicious fragrance might never
diminish. They carried them TO the bath,
and their traffic must have been very con-
siderable. H. the wealthy and eff. inmate
city of Capua, the street known as Septasia,
consisted of shops in which peItumery
alone was sold.
In Rome. these Injuries were not known
till the end of the republic, and under the
empire when their use became no less gen.
eral tkan in Greece. \ description of the
more costly upgueLts is given by Pliny.
The preparation of these required peculiar
skill and therefore formed n particular
profession. The numerous XIII is of per-
fumes with which the ancients we're ac-
ouainted is almost incredible. In bort
whether to rcgale the nostrils OF thu del,ics
while sacrificing, or their own while feast
ing, or to preserve their no'tlils from
bang offended by defunc: humanity, or
the exhalation from crowded masses Of
people, the consumption of carly times
was enormous.
In the Middle Age, Italy and France
were famous for their manufacture. Char
lemagne INDUCED in them, and Philip
Augustus granted a charter to the master
perfumer in AID. 1870. When Catherine
de Medicis came to France to marry Henry
the Second, she brought with her a celc-
brated perfumer named Rene.
In England, taste for perfumes was
prevalent in the time Of Shakespeare. OF
which ample evidence il afforded in his
works; and in the days of Dean Swift: the
shops of perfumers were the resort OF the
loangers.
First issued from perfumers shops
crowd of fashionable fops."
Perfumes are still largely used il the
East. Oils and ointmcnts have, however,
been superseded by pertumsd waters. l:
is the custom to sprinkle guests with rose
water, and to perfume them with the in
cense Of the aloe and other odoriferous
woods, as Il mark of hospitality. Even
the great simplicity of their lives does no:
preclude the Bedonin Arabs from their
use, as they perfume their handkerchief
with civct. The traveller Bruce informi
us that when he rose TO take his leave of
an Oriental family, he was ''presently wet
to the skin with orange-fower water"
Nor have Biblical customs altogether
disappeared from among us. Incense is
still used by the Roman Catholic church
and at the coronation Of Queen Victoria,
ian oil pure and holy" was poured upon
her head by the Archbishop of Canterbury.
The perfection of perfumery is now con-
sidered TO be genuine eau dc cologne, SIM
ply because the constituents in its manu-
facture aSsimilate in odor and volatility,
and thus produce, as it were, a single
aromatic impression. In Cologne, there
are four perfumers named Farina, each
claiming 10 have the original receipt. Il
appears that speculation is there carried
on TO so high pitch, that any child emit
tied to the surname of Farina is bargained
for at his birth, and baptised Jean Maria;
and, we blush to write il, thi, interesting
event is even, at times, anticipated.-Homs
Journal
\ COP OF TAsTE.-At the opening f
the new free church, at Crathie. in Sco:-
land, DR.. Guthrie said: ~ highly approve
of the resolution of our friend; tina: led