The record-union., 1891-05-17

grow uere, 10 DC sure, DuI only III lne
perfumers' shops.
Hindostan sends oils of several very
sweet native flowers with unpronounce-
able names. They are distilled in clay,
and would be adorable but for the heavy
under scent of sandal wood that comes
from the distiller's habit of putting
sandal wood shavings along with the
flowers.
Oil of bitter almonds is pressed from
the hard cake after it has yielded up all
its fat. 1t comes from North Africa, Per-
sla, Arabia and thereabout. Cassia, dis
titled from Taurus cassie and quite dis
tinct from cassie, is an East India pro-
duct.
Aloe wood-which must by no means
be confounded with the aloe of medicine
and commerce-comeS from Africa. Veti-
vert is an Indian sweet herb.
The best lavender is English. Metchan,
in Surrey, and Hitchin, IN Kent, are CEN
ters of its growth. French lavender has
a rank, fiery smell, quite unlike the cool
fragrance OF that produced by the fright
little, tight little isle" A fairly good
quality grows wild on the slopes Of Mont
Blanc.
Perhaps the oldest of all vegetable per-
fumes is the South American umeri.
which is got by raising the bark on the
tree trunk, and slipping bits Of raw cot
ton under 1t. They remain there for
month, are taken out dripping with sweet
smelling sap, which is pressed out and
forms the perfume of commerce.
Orris root, the perfumer's standby,
the source and center of half his pow
dered sweets, is the bulb Of the Italian
iris, and grows chiefly in Tuscany. 1t is
distantly related to our native calamus,
or sweet flag.
Linnaeus classed odors under three
heads-fragrant, aromatic, ambrosial.
1Nr1 l.
musk with the last Paradise, which, ac-
cording to the Koran, is tloored with
mixture Of musk and fine flour, and the
houris who entrance the soul of the true
believer are made Of pure musk. If they
could come to earth just now they would
be worth mOney-eSpecially if built to
the Arab ideal, ''a load for a camel.''
Musk In the pad is worth $40 the ounce.
Siam musk, which is free from all extra
neous matter, fetches about double that
price.
Naturally such cost has stimulated in
ventiOn to produce substitutes, SO far,
though, without perfect success. The
odor is there, but it lacks the pre-emi-
nence of the genuine article-of which
grain will scent a room for years without
losing appreciably in weight. 1t is the
staying quality which makes it so valu-
able. 1t is used to fix nearly all other
from the male Of the musk deer-a small
brown creature about as big as month
old lamb, which runs and feeds in
the Businesses of the highest Himalaya
Mountains.
The best comes from China and is
known as "Tonquin musk"
1t is dark reddish brown powder, be-
coming almost black when exposed to
air. The heather Chinee is up to a trick
or two, even in his own heathen land.
Importers frequently find the pads,
which grow under the animals belly,
loaded with bullets, pebbles and other
weighty matter.
The deer are killed in late winter, when
cold and hunger drive them down within
reach. The natives chase them on
horseback and dispatch them with sticks
and stones. When the pads are cut off
the hunter wraps his head in stout
cloth, otherwise there is danger that the
reeking scent will produce dangerous
hemorrhage of the throat and nostrils.
All Eastern folk are passionately fond
of it. More than one conqueror has
mixed musk in the mortar of his tri-
umphal mosque, there to chant their
peans in odor through all coming time.
Civit comes from the civit cat, whose
home is Abyssinia. 1t is glandular Sc
cretion, and worth 81 the ounce. Its
four-footed source is not so far removed
from the malodorous polecat of temperate
zones. In the raw ciYit is disgusting,
but properly tempered it gives not
merely permanence but pungent sweet
ness to many of the so-called floral per-
fumes.
Ambergris, which completes the tale Of
animal perfumes, IS diseased secretion
from the right or large spermaceti whale.
1t is either cast up by him living or left
intact by the fishes which devour him
iG n
from 5 to 500 pounds along the coast Of
Greenland's icy mountains, as we'll as of
lndia's coral strand. Japanese and Irish
waters, too, supply II.
OF late years more than one huge mass
has been secured off the coast Of New
foundland. 1t is dirty gray white in
color, of waxy texture, and by no means
agreeable to the nose in its first estate.
All the same, 1t hightens and deepens
other OdOrS in wonderful fashion. In
conjunction with powdered amber, aro-
matte gums and flowers, it made the
''pomanders," properly pomme de am
| Der, in which good Queen Bess so de-
lighted. More than one chronicle sets
down her pleasure over pOmanders-es-
pecially one "girdle Of pomander,' - which
kept her in good humor three whole
days. 1t was a string of the perfumed
! balls big enough to go around the waist,
| instead Of the single oval that her Majesty
! day ladies of the harem carry such in
! their small hands.
! The oldest alcoholic perfume is Hun
! gary water, first made in 1880 and so
named from Queen Elizabeth Of Hun
gary, who, by the use Of it, so preserved
| her beauty that at the age of Y she was
| sought in marriage by the King of Po-
land. The real waters-rose and orange
| flower-are by-productS of distlllation.
| Much lavender water comes the same
way. but great deal is made by adding
oil of lavender to rectified proof spirits.
Cologne first made by Jean Maria
| Fariha in that ill-smelling German town,
| has thousand formulas. The bases of
all, though, are bergamot neroti, with
musk and altar of rose, all dissolved in
alcohol.
In fact, alcohol is the vehicle for all
| essences. If it were untaxed we could
/ have our lives sweetened for much less
! money. AS the perfumer uses no more
! than Z per cent. of what is consumed in
the art it seems pity, but he could have
a rebate of the unnecessary impost.
! He may break, he may shake up the
/ grease as he will, but some scent of the
roses is apt TO hang round it still. Conse-
/ queutly he turns the said grease into fine
soap. For the very best he even uses the
! pomade without extracting any ordor;
/ for cheaper soap oil of sasSafras, winter
green and bitter almonds is used.
Sachet powder is made of fragrant
gums, roots and dried flowers, duly
weighed and ground fine together, with
enough musk, civet or ambergris to fix
the vegetable odors. There are all Of ten
thousand formulas. Orris root goes into
near all of them. Cheap sachet stuff is a
delusion and snare. 1t may smell well
for day, week even, but after that
! tbara * only n stale Sipl<ly ghost of NOR
fume. as different as possible to the watts
c,f