The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1896-09-13
A TALK ABOUT PERFUMES.
How They Are Made and From
Whence Procured.

1hey Are MAdS ana FROM
Whence Procured.
The four animal scents employed In
the manufacture Of perfumes are musk,
civet, castor (from the castor beaver
and anbergris, which comes from the
sperm whale. Civet is becoming most
popular and is edging the others-cas-
tor is well nigh obsolete-to the wall,
but musk is the most distinguished
of all four, and for years untold has
been the basis of all choice scents
The three kinds of musk found In the
American market vary in price &C
cording to the quality of each. The
Russian musk, from its comparative
poverty in fragrance, does not sell for
more than S1.25 an ounce; the Assam,
next in value, has a strong rank odor,
and brings about $3.50 in the pod, while
the Chinese musk, the most priced.
sells in the pod for over SIS an ounce.
TWO ounces Of grain musk added to
one gallon of rectified spirits will, after
months maceration, give the COM
mercial extract of musk, which is
used for mixing with other perfumes
whereby its odor is modified according
to taste by its association with vari-
GUS affairs. When a perfumer wishes
to disinfect mortar in which musk
grains have been rubbed he has to
pound bitter almonds in It,
The history Of musk dates back to
the early Egyptian period when it was
chief factor in the embalming pro-
cess, and later in the days Of the Cru
sades. 1t was among the precious rel
les sent by the Sultan Saladin TO the
Greek ruler Of Constantinop1e 1t for
merly held high reputation as a med
icine and is still used among the in
habitants Of the East as precious
and reviving drink. 1t Is stated that
the Russian emperor-NicholaS-o his
death bed drank a potion Of musk.
1t is related that Napoleon was dis
gusted and irritated by its strong odor
which permeated Josephine's boudoir
and articles of her wardrobe
An extrayagant and luxurious Turk
ish ruler understood the undying
volatile properties Of this strange pro-
duct when he had secreted in the walls
of his harem musk grains mixed with
the cement. The scent of musk is
wonderfully diffusive and subtle. the
articles in its vicinity soon becoming
lmpregnated with it and long retaining
its odor Of the famous nosegays that
have musk for their basis, are the En-
press Eugenie's, "the Fleur D'Italie."
which has also the costly ambergris as
an ingredient, Wood Violet" and
West End OF the dry perfumes
sachets-nearly all have grains of
I1luSfA liA1AC0 III lnGlT compounds, while
among expensive scented SOAPS. such
as Paris Windsor" which owes it's
great reputation among the elite to it's
delightful odor is simply the duly
modified fragrance of musk.
So it Is that the choicest grades of
perfumes-those most coveted by our
grand danes of fashion who pride
themselves that their aristocraticaIly
high bred noses can detect vulgarism
even toilet WqtprG-ara aa&-
favorites have but in reality a most
plebian origin. For no matter how
many delightful affairs of violets, roses.
tuberoses and jasmine, lavender, YER
bena, cassia and orange flowers lend
their fleeing sweet aromas to 'sbou-
quets," they would be but airy, indefi-
mite and unsubstantial without the
penetrating, staying power of the
grosser elements, such as are obtained
from the nauseous civet cat, the dis
eased sperm whale and the odoriferous
musk deer of the animal world