Alpena weekly argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1871-1893, 1885-06-17
BOTTLiNG SWEET DOORS

The vioict's Fragrance Caught and I'M
prisoncd In Layers OF Grease-The Rest
Perfume FIowers-Propertics Of Amber
girls.
"Oh, no, said a chemist. cit does
not follow, nowadays, because toilet
perfume is made in France, or any other
foreign country, that it is superior in
quality to one of American preparation.
Such was formerly the case, but the art
of making fine perfumes has been car
ried to such perfection Of late years In
this country that not more than one
eighth as much of the French prepare.
tons is sold in the United States to-day
rs was sold ten years ago. Nearly
1000, 900 worth of home-distillcd per-
year, and Chicago made nearly half as
great quantity rs that. Then there
are large perfumery manufacturing es-
Establishments in Boston, Philadelphia,
st. Louis, San Francisco and other
cities. 'Are the American as good rs
the French?'
EXACTLY as good, for the general i'm
preston that many of our best handker-
Clllcl cAtI6CtS DScdtluS tIlc uuttltS VI
flowers are merely chemical limitations
of the genuine odors Is far from cor
rect. The fact is that genuine oils Of
flowers, of which pure American per-
fumes are made, are imported princi-
pally from Franco, and genuine musk
and ambergris, the two most impor-
tant and valuable bases for fine per-
fumes, must be obtained in other cOun-
tries. While the best American made
perfumes are equal in quality to tho
finest of the French, such could not be
the case if we had not that country to
depend upon for our essential oils. The
reason for this Is that no successful eff
forts have been made in this country to
raise flowers Of sufficient richness and
density of perfume to supply essential
oils in sufficient quantities to make it
profitable to extract them, although it
is held that the odorous blooms of some
of the Southern States. especially Flor
ida and other Gulf States, have the full
bouquet of the same blooms grown in
Southern France. that great garden of
commercial odors. The flowers that
lead as providers of popular perfumes
for the handkerchief and toilet are the
jasmine, violet, tuberose, rose, bitter
orange flower, and cassia. Combina-
tions of these with ambergris and musk
result in the delicious perfumes tat arc
used.
.'These flowers, or the most of them,
are indigenous TO the south of France.
Cassia, the blossom of the cinnamon
tree, comes from the East Indies, a
does the tuberosc. Bitter orange Is
from upper Italy. The oils of violet,
tuberose, jasmine and other delicate
flowers, being highly volatile, must DO
extracted in peculiar manner in order
that they may be retained any length Of
time for use. The essential oil in vio-
lets is the most volatile of all flower cx-
tracts, and, as the flower itself Is the
most difficult to grow of all the per-
fumc flowers, violet extract is of double
the value of any other volatile essential
oil of flowers. Cassia Is used rs q sub
stitute for violet when the latter Is
scarce. The oils of these flowers are
extracted and held by what is known
technically as grease absorption, but
the French give the process the moro
delicate name of enfleurage. / do not
know who discovered the process, but
it is one of the simplest, and ut the same
time one of tho most effective, known
to chemical science. A layer of re-
fined fat is spread upon large wire
sieve with small meshcs. Upon this
bed of grease the delicate petals Of
the odor-bearing flowers are scattered
loosely. Then layer Of fat Is spread
upoo tic flowers, and then moro petals,
and so on, until the sieve Is filed. 1t
Is then covered up and subjected for
ten or twelve hours TO temperature
just below the point ut which tho fat
would melt Then the heat is in
creased until the fat becomes liquid and
runs through the mcshes of the sieve
into vat arranged to receive 1t,
charged with the perfume Of the flow
crs. The leaves, apparently odor)ess.
remain i'm the sieve, but one distiliation
docs not rob them of all their sweet
ness, and some of tho same fat, when
cold. is mixed with them again, and
the same process repeated. In turn,
some of the second distillation Is run
through the sieve with the flowers.
which are then, indeed, robbed Of all
their fragrance. The last two processes
make the double and triple extracts
known to the trade. The grease, hold
ing the rare oils of the flowers, is then
sealed in cans and /, ready for market,
which u finds all over Europe and In
this country. The trade name of this
grea9 Is pomade extract IN Y. Sum