The record-union., 1891-05-17
ABOUT PERFUMES.
The Sweet-Scented SavOrs of All
Times.
Noted Perfumes of Commerce, Art,
Fashion, History and Romance
Distilled OdorS Surrendered by
Turkish Roses and French Orange
Blossoms.

Brought are we in fancy to the Orient
by the bare word perfume" says NJ. c.
Williams in the COurier-Joat17aal.
1t means through SMOKE" and recalls
sandal and aloe wood, frankincense,
myrrh and all the other precious gums
that from time immemorial have sent
up fragrant clouds of Eastern song and
story, nor is the suggestion misleading
one.
Though the perfumer has truly the
world for his parish, he would be badly
off indeed without India, China, Arabia,
Algiers and Turkey. He may be able to
do without them after while.
Indeed, chemistry is doing such Won
der work that in another hundred years
we may possibly abolish nature and de-
pend,whollY on art. Certainly much may
be expected from a science that from
black, dirty, il-smelling coal tar can give
us'the delicate, penetrating sweetness OF
"new mown hay'' and of carnations.
What shall be said, too, of the power that
can evolvefrom black pepper the vanilla
fragrance of heliOtrope, most subtitle and
passionate of odorS?
Doubtless rose by any other name
would smell as sweet but certainly few
garden more than their names.
The flowers grown for their scent are,
in relative Importance, roses, orange
flowers, jasmine, cassie, violets, tube
roses, jonqulls and narcissus.
Tradition hath it that altar of roses was
first used by Nour-jehan, Moore's Nour
mahal otherwise Light of the Harem."
Walking one day in her garden, through
which ran canal Of rose water, she spied
upon its surface oily particles that eX-
cited her curiosity. In sheer idleness she
collected them; found them so deliciously
fragrant that she at once cried for more,
with the result of setting up a new in
dustry among her husbands loyal sub
jects. Once the precious essence was
worth its weight in diamonds; now it
fetches but S. an ounce.
Turkey supplies the most and purest of
it. That which comes from India is usu-
ally adulterated with oil Of lemon grass.
Bulgaria is the Turks great rose garden.
There, upon the long, cool north hill
slopes he plants the hundred-leaf rose
and tends to It assiduously. The plant is
tickle and capricious as any coquette.
Upon one hill it Will bloom and broaden
magniticently, yet wholly lack scent,
while on another, not half mile away,
it will fairly intOxicate you with its per-
fume.
May is the time of harvest. Then there
are flowers by the million. They must
be picked before sunrise, as soon as they
open, else they lose more than half their
sweetness.
The leaves are put in clay stills with
twice their own weight Of water. What
passes over is the rose water of commerce.
The altar floats on top in oily globules
that are hardened by exposure to the
cool night air, then SKINNED off. Sixty
pounds OF good leaves will yield an ounce
of altar.
The best rose water is distilled twice or
thrice with fresh leaves each time.
Orange flowers go through the same
process. They are from the biggarede
or bitter orange and grown in Southern
France, Sicily and Italy. The product is
nerOti-a shade costlier than altar Of rose.
The leaves, stems and bark Of the tree
yield, by distillation, an inferior oil
known as petit-grain.
Flower scents are obtained in four
ways-by distillation, maceration, alb
sorptiOn or expression.
In Southern France, about Nice, GraSse
and Cannes, flower. charming is a most i'm
portant business. 1t gives work and
bread TO thousands, and doubtless helped
materially to bring in the money where
with France paid her scot to Germany.
Many orange flowers are distilled there
More are macerated-that is allowed to
stand for hours in clarified fat, then
strained out and fresh ones put in their
place. The fat is barely Kept LIQUID
After it has drunk sweetness from a
dozen patches of flowers it becomes
pomade. Roses, too, are thus treated
More delicate fiowers-jasmine, tuberose,
violet and caSSle-Tequire TO be Strewn
upon nets stretched between plates of
glass covered with grease hardened with
white wax. The plates are fixed one
above another in an air-tigbt case.
Every six bpll1.S hp flowers arc
for fresh ones. In forty-eight hours or
thereabouts the grease is saturated with
perfume and makes way for fresh.
This process is known as enfleurage,
and yield the finest of all perfumes.
Double Napoleon viOlets are the sort
cultivated. They like cool, shaded
ground, so are planted in the orange
groves. Their flower season is February
to April They are gathered three times
week and yields so sparingly that true
violet essence is one ofthe costlieSt things
perfnmer keeps in stock.
Cassie buds come from a shrub acacia,
grown all over Italy, in Spain, Algiers
and Tunis. 1t looks like a small round
tuft Of orange floss silk, and yields a deli
cate but enduring essence dear to the
Scent-maker's soul, called there po-
etically, Moonlight of the Grove" Jas
mime is an Indian shrub. 1t is grown in
France, grated upon roots Of wild, ma
tive jasmine, and is a handsome evergreen
three or four inches high. Its starry,
waX-yyhite blossoms are indescribably
sweet. All the burning pain, and passion,
and pathos and mystery of the Hindoo
race seem to rise up TO you in its breath.
The tube-Ose, too, comes from India and
Ceylon. It is so naturaliZed here that
everybody will recall the fragrance, as OF
love tinged with death, that lies heavy in
its heart.
I, :; tba sin, ri oe+ tl,;,rr l., tl,o ,,-orl5 -
get the sweet away from the fat. The
pomade is washed or dissolved in alco-
hol, which at once takes up the odor,
bold, natural or artificial, takes the tallow
and lets the clear essence be poured away.
Afterward comes in the perfumer's art
He adds TO, takes from, modities or coun-
terbalances.
Each perfume of commerce is a bouquet
of some sort. a thoroughly successful
one means fame and fortune. Atkinson
Of London, got rich from white Rose
which each perfumer compounds diff
ferently-and which is to-day the favor
lite scent of English-speaking folk.
Next TO the flower scents come essen
tial oils from bergamot and other mem.
bers of the citrus family, patchouh, nard
geranlum, citroneIla, cloves, and so on.
Bergamot is got from fruit in shape and
color like q very small lemon. The vel.
low rind is grated off by means of two
prickly surfaces, from which the oil is
gathered with a fine sponge. The tree
which is closely allied to the bitter
orange, grows in France, Spain, Italy and
Algeria.
Patchouli is distilled from the East In.
dian herb of that name. Nard has much
the same habitat
Geranium oil, used to adulterate or In
place Of altar of rose, is made mostly in
Spain. Cloves are the flower buds of ar
evergreen tropic tree. The oil thereof is
nrNf hincr hut s,s,nnt in itS 1,St nctn+n ,nnt