, 1888-09-18
The ART.
Two Processes by Which Odors Are Ex-
tracted from F1owers-A Classification

Two Processes by which doors Are Ex-
tracted from Flowers-A Classification
There are two chief processes by (which
odors are extracted and retained. One
is by distillation, or what is called ma
ceration-the essential oil or otto in which
the perfume resides being extracted by
vaporizing from the flowers, leaves and
roots, or other portions of the plant con-
tanning it. The other, and by far more
delicate and interesting, is'by absorption
or ~enfleurage. This is resorted to in tho
case of all the more delicate flowers,
such as the rose, jasmine, tuberose and
cassia, where the essence is SO fine that
1t has by practice been found to be in
jured by heat. The principle of odor
absorption from flowers is based simply
on the established law Of affinity which
hydro-carbons-that is, beef and mutton
fats-have for perfumes. When these
nave been highly purified they catch,
and in catching concentrate and inten-
sify, the odors communicated to them.
The modus operandi is of the simplest
and is not at all times of the cleanest.
The visitor to the perfume factory would
see multitudes of wooden frames having
rims about three inches in depth, in
which are set several sheets of glass.
These frames are lifted to a bench and
all the glasses are spread over with layers
of pure fat, somewhat less than a quarter
of an inch thick, and over this fat are
carefully shed the leaves of whatever
flowers may be plentiful at the season,
fresh and full of odor. After the flower
leaves are spread out, the glasses are re-
placed in the frame, n on top of the
other, till each frame looks like a solid
box of fat. Next the frames are slid
into boxes made to receive them, some
thing like our strawberry boxes, and
these are then closely shut. In a very
short time the fat will have caught all
the odor, and having caught it will hold
it, too, so that it can be conveyed unin-
jured hundreds of miles.
The next question is to free the i'm
prisoned spirit. The fat is cut up into
small square portions and put into al
cohol. The delicate essence at once parts
from its coarser companion, and uniting
ing itself to the alcohol is fit for the
market.
Another method, but not so commonly
followed, is to spread the flowers upon
cloths saturated with oils, which, when
the absorption is supposed to have ended,
are placed in a press and the impregnated
oil squeezed out.
In the preparation of scents the an
clients, as in SO many, many other things,
anticipated in principle at least the most
recent methods approved of science. The
absorbing substance with them was ben
oil, obtained from the Moringa, a tree
growing in Egypt, India and Ceylon. 1t
bears a pod containing several peculiar
shaped, three cornered seeds, from which
a pure and scentless oil is obtained. Cot
ton was soaked in the oil and placed in
layers between the flowers and then
pressed down in a water bath for about
tw~enty-four hours.
Evidently, too, the method has not
varied much in different periods, for Gull
pepper in his English Physician, " pub
lished in 1858, gives the following recipe
for the process:
'Having bruized the herbs or flowers
you would make your Oyl of, put them
in an earthen pot, and to two or three
handfuls of them pour a pint of Oyl,
cover the pot with a paper and set it in
the sun, about a fortnight or less, ac-
cording as the sun is in holiness then, hav-
ing warmed it very wei by the fire, press
out the herbs, ETC., very hard in a press,
and d as many more herbs to the same
Oyl, bruize (the herbs, 1 mean, not the
OyD in like manner, set them in the sun
as before; the oftener you repeat this the
stronger will your Oyl be; at last when
you conceive it strong enough boyl both
herbs and Oyl together till the juice be
consumed, which you may know by its
leaving bubbling, and the herbs will be
crisp, then strain it while it is hot, and
keep it in a stone vessel for your use."
The number of SO called perfumes is
without end and is largely a matter of
fashion. Still, various standing divisions
Of odors nave been made, the most elab-
crate of them all being that of Rimmel.
His classification comprises only the
pleasant odors, and is based on a princi-
pie that just as there are primary colors
from which all secondary shades are pro-
duced, so there are primary odors with
types, all other aroma being more or less
closely connected with them. OF these
types he finds eighteen groups.-San
Francisco Chronicle.