The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1886-07-22

Facts About Rich and Delightful Pei
fumes, Natural and Fictitious.

Facts About Rich and Delightful Per-
fumes, Natural and Fictitious.
Choice perfumes may be considered
as belonging to three classes-the So
called bouquet" perfumes, those that
are the simple odors of the flowers
whose names they bear; and those that
by delicate art employ such combina-
tons and blendings of various odors as
together simulate perfectly the perfume
of some particular flower, the real odor of
which is 81 evanescent and delicate that
it can not be caught and fixed by any
process yet known to science. Of the
first of these, the representative one
that most readily occurs to my mind at
present, is the Edna" The inventor
of that perfume was no less than nine
years in bringing it to perfection, and
when it was done he was SO Justly en-
thusiastic ver it that he declared that
Sin it art was glorifed and nature
~eclipsed!" All these bouquet perfumes
are made by various blendings of the
results of the enfleurage process-the
extracted odors of violet, jasmin, tube
rose, rose, orange flower and cassie-to-
gether with musk, oil of rose, oil of ylang-
ylang and ambergris as a fixateur. One
or another of these may be left out of a
special blending, but that is the open
field for selection. The ~enfeurage pro-
cess consists in exposing clarified grease,
thinly spread on glass frames, to the
presence of the flowers, until it has
taken their odor from them. That is
done by manufacturers in the valley of
the Var, in the south of France, where
vast fields of sweet-smelling flowers are
grown for this purpose. Alcohol after
ward takes up all the perfume from the
grease, and the perfumed alcohol is
what is used in making the extracts for
the toilet. 1t is in the grease form that
the perfumes are imported to this coun.
try. Other tixateurs than that which I
have mentioned are employed, such as
gum benzoin and gum tolu. The prov
ince of amber girls is to blend and de-
velop perfumes, to give them a homo
gently, as it were. Its natural smell is
not pleasant, being more like that of a
damp cellar than anything else. 1t is
found in the spermaceti whale, is an in
dication of an abnormal and unhealthy
condition of that creature, and is sup
posed to be a product of indigestion.
Nevertheless it is a requisite for the per-
fumer, and nothing else can take its
place.
Doubtless the incest art of the per-
fumer is shown in the perfect stimulation
of the odors of certain flowers, the real
perfume of which can not be caught.
Such a flower, for instance, is the lilv of
the valley; yet there is a perfume named
after that flower, the entrancingly
sweet ordor of which is the perfect re-
production of natures work, SO far as
the smell goes. The reproduction Of
such a simulant perfume is sometimes
the work of years. 1t can only be car
ried on when the flowers themselves are
in perfection for purposes of comparison,
for q scent can no more be accurately
remembered than it can be analyzed.
And wen when the time is propitious
the artist compounder must often lay
aside his work for days together, because
his olfactories grow weary, temporarily
vitiated and unreliable. Two of our
most delightfully."- sweet flowers that
grow upon our continent, the magnolia
and the tea olive of Georgia and Ala
bama, have never yet been perfectly
simulated in perfume. though they have
been the subjects of almost countless
experiments. Again and again the ex.
act odors have been caught and lost
again the moment that the necessary
fixateurs for retaining them were added
to the alcoholic compounds. OF course
they will be won some day, but when
they do they will hass hsan ysu
sRsnsdiS-8esfos zyHs6t,