Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1886-06-17
SNIFFS OF SWEETNESS.
Facts About Perfumes Natural and Fictitious
Fugitive Flower 0dOrs.
Boston Times

"ChOlce 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 deli
cate art employ such combinations and
blendings of various odors as together
simulate perfectly the perfume of some
particular flower, the real odOr of which
Is so 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 that | have already mentioned
among the classes. The inventor of that
perfume was no less than nine wears in
bringing 1T to perfection, and when it was
done he was so Justly enthusiastic over it
that he declared that in it art was gIori-
fed and nature eclipsed.' All these bOu-
quet perfumes are made by various blend
ings of the result of the enfeurage proc
ess-the extract odOrs Of violet, jasmine,
tuberose, rose, orange flower, and cassie
together with musk, oil of rose. oil of
ylangylang, and ambergris as a fxateur.
One or another of these may be left out
of special blending, but that is the open
field for selection. The enfeurage pro
cess consists in exposing clarified grease,
thlnly spread on glass frames, to the pres
ence of the flowers, until it has taken
their Odor from them. That is done bv
manufacturers in the valley of the Var.
in the south of France, where vast fields
of sweet-smelIing flowers are grown for
this purpose. Alcohol afterward takes
up all the perfume from the grease, and
the perfumed alcohol is what is used in
making the extracts for the toilet. It is
in the grease from that the perfumes are
imported to this country. Other fixrteurs
than that which I have mentioned are en-
ployed, such as gum benzoin and gum
tOlo. The province of ambergris is to
blend and develop perfumes, to give
them hOmegeneity, as it were. It's ma
tural smell is not pleasant, being more
more like that of damp cellar than any
thing else. 1t is found in the spermaceti
whale, is an indication of an abnormal
and unhealthful condition of that crea-
ture, and is supposed to be product of
of indigestion. Nevertheless it is a re-
quisite for the perfumer, and nothing else
can take its place.
'DOubtless the incest art of the prefu-
mer is shown in the perfect stimulation of
the odors of certain flowers, the real per
fume of which cannot be caught. Such
a flower, for Instance, is the lily of the
valley: yet here is a perfume named after
that flower, the entrancingly sweet odOr
of which is the perfect reproduction of
natures work, so far as the smell goes.
The reproduction of such simulant per-
fume is sometimes the work of years.
1t can only be carried on when the flow
ers themselves are in perfection for pUr-
poses of comparison, for a scent can no
more be accurately remembered than it
can be analysed. And even 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 unrelia-
bic. Two of our most delightfully."- sweet
flowers that grow upon our continent,
the magnolia and the tea olive of Georgia
and Alabama, have never yet been per
fectly simulated in perfume, though they
have been the subjects of almost count
less experiments. Again and again the
exact odors have been caught and lost
again the moment that the necessary
fxateurs for retaining them were added
to the alcoholic compounds. Of course
they will be won some day, but when they
do they will have been well earned.