Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1869-02-15

PERFUMES. TO chemistry, modern perfume
" is perhaps more indebted than any other art
that conduces to the luxury OF lie. Nearly
every article of the toilet bottle or the Satche
is made from waste, sometimes from lnodorous
matters. 1t is generally supposed that all the
essences of flowers are produced by dlstlllatlon.
This is far from being the case, some or them
would be seriously injured by such process,
and are caught and fixed, as it were, by what
may be termed fat-trap. In the hover sea-
son, at Cannes, plates of glass are thlnly cover
ed with clarified inodorous fat: upon or under
this fat the flowers are placed, and the power
this substance has to absorb and retain per-
fumes is astonishing. On these sheets OF glass
the most delicate odors are thus fixed, almost
as securely as, on the colodeOn prepared plates,
the most delicate pictures are retained. In this
way the iessamine, the violet, the tube rose,
and orange perfumes travel across France, and
arrive here as pure as the day they were CIV
en- forth by the flowers themselves. The
emancipation of the odor from its imprlson-
ment is very simple; the fat cut into small
cubes is placed in spirits of wine, and the
delicate essence Immediately deserts the coarse
fat for the more spiritual solvent. 1t may
not be correct to speak OF these odors as
waste matters, because the flowers are grown
ior the purpose of their production, and Tor
that only, but there are mauy fragrant airs
which now go to waste in our gardens, that
may be secured with a little trouble. MIR.
piesse in his interesting work on periumery,
saws, that, 'whilst cultivators of gardens
spend thousands for the qualification OF the
eye, they altogether neglect the nose. Why
should we not grow flowers for their odorS as
we'll as for their oolOrs?' and we may add
that ladies may utilize some OF our own waste
garden perfumes very easily and with pecu-
liar advantage to themselves. ueiotrope, the
iIy of the valley, honey sucklc, myrtle, Glove,
pink and wall flower perfumes, such as we get
10 the shops are made up odors cunnlngy con
rived from other flowers. Yet they may be
made pure with little trouble. Il want
AelotrOpe pOmade, says Mr.. PlesSe IN des
oair II would buy any amount that L could
get" And the way to get 1t IS very SIMPLE
t there is glue-pot In the house, ana IL nap
pens to be clean, fill 1T with clerlhed fat' set lt
near the hot house fire, or any other fire, Just
% make the fat LIQUID and throw in as much
aeiotrcpe flowers as possible, let them re
main for twenty-four hours, strain off the fat,
and add fresh ones repeat this process for a
week, and the fat will have become pomade
J la heliotropc. The same process may be
gone through with all the other flowers men
toned a lady may In this manner make her
own perfume, and we may add In the words OF
Mr. Piesse, lone that she cannot obtain for
love nor money at the periumer's The same
gentleman, in letter to the Society of Arts
Journal, draws attention to the fact that tiow-
ers of great value are real waste product IN
our colonies I'm Jamaica, ST. Helena. and
many other places, orange blossoms and JGSsa-
mine flowers are very abundant, but no eHort
is made to save or economic their fragance:
although the ottos procured from them are
nearly as valuable as gold, weight for weight,
and for these England pays pretty dearly to
France and Italy Some of the more deli
cate perfumes are entirely guiltless OF ever
having had their homes in flowers; indeed
they are made by chemical arti6ce, concocted in
short from oils and etherS, many of them of a
most disgusting kind, the by-products and re-
fuse of other matters. RerteeC.