The morning call., 1893-06-04
HOW PERFUMES ARE MADE.
A Process Necessitating knowledge
and Quick Perceptions.
New YORK Tribune.

New YORK Tribune.
The manufacture of marketable per-
fumes from flowers is a delicate art, in
which both chemical knowledge and quick
natural perceptions are required for sue
cess. The first process is The extraction OF
The essences by distilation. A large cop
per vessel or alembic is filled with water
about two-thlrds of its capacity; the
flowers to be treated are then introduced,
and it is Theoretically closed. II is then
placed on fire; usually gas or steam Is
used for this purpose. Steam Is generated
by this means in the cylinder. and is car
RED by means of pipe into a second
cylinder, which is constantly Kept re-
plenished with cold water and is furnished
with an overflow cock. The pipe. in its
passage through this second cylinder, as
sumes the form of spiral form.
This coil ends In cock at the bottom OF
the cylinder, from which the volatile
essence exudes drop by drop as the steam
becomes condensed in its passage through
the spiral coil. lu this manner the essence
is collected in small glass vessel, while at
the same time the water containing a small
portion OF the scent, which still remains
In the aiembic aforesaid, is itself perfumed
and becomes the rose water or orange
flower water of commerce. All flowers are
not susceptible of this trea tment-sOme of
them, such as jessamine, violet. cassie,
tu0er0se, ETC., containing no essence, have
10 be treated by different process. OF
the flowers producing essences, the orange
flower produces but one pound of essence
for one Thousand pounds OF flowers. This
essence Is STYLED "nerOli," and is the prin-
cipal essence produced in the district be-
tween the Var and the italian frontier.
The volatile essences thus obtained,
combined and mixed together with a GER
tain quantity Of alcohol, are used in the
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cologne, toilet vinegar. lavender water.
etc. There are two processes used for the
purpose OF extracting perfume from flow
ers which do not contain the volatile
essence. The first may be described as the
cold process, and the second as the hot
process. The former is generally used for
cassie acacia farDeriana1, lrsSamlne,
lcBquilS, tuheroses, violets and some other
flowers. Freshly gathered flowers are
placed upon layer OF pure lard, one
fourth inch in thickness. spread over q
sheet of glass about two feet square.
which is framed in WOOD and forms kind
of tray.
These trays, sometimes forty or fifty to-
gether, are then piled upon one another,
the flowers are changed every twelve,
eighteen or twenty-fOur hours, according
10 circumstances, and the process Is thus
continued until the lard is sufficiently
charged with perfume. Jessamine and
tuberose are frequently changed as often
as fifty times before the lard is considered
to be sufficiently impregnated. cassie and
volets from fifty to forty times, and jon
quils about twenty times only. The fat
thus obtained can be packed in alright
tins and conveyed anywhere. and 1t used
to be thus exported In considera BILE guam
titles TO RimmePs. in London, from their
garden at Nice. When the hot process is
resorted to for the purpose At obtaining
the i'm pregpated fat twenty khcS of grease
are placed in a copper vessel, t0geiher with
some five kilos of flowers; the Vf@Sel is
then placed over a slow fire aud Nh
tents are well stirred. qFEH
After allowing the compound to bsNen
minutes the vessel is allowed TO G for
some hours; an additional five Mos of
flowers are then added, and the process is
completed until the fat has absorbed the
requisite amount of perfume. The hot
liquid is then poured through a sieve, and
the greasy flower paste that remains is
subjected to hydraulic pressure. 1t is in
these two ways that the ''pommades" of
trade are produced. From these "pom-
mades" perfumed and alcohO izad liquids
are extracted by means of grain spirit, and
also by spirits of wine. These are the
EXTRACTS" of trade. and it is by the judici-
GUS blending of the different essences and
the concentrated perfumes. obtained by
the processes above described, that the
numerous scents are produced.