The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-11-21
VIOLET nE1exs sUPRrmE


perfume should be violet. The exquisite mod
esty OF " the humble violet" seems Inconsistent
with the feverish degeneration usually associ-
ated with the end OF the century.
There Is no hard-and-fast rule Of consistency.
Thirty years ago almost every woman you met
was fairly rocking with musk. Heavy. exaE-
geratcd ~insistent perfumes were the rule. This
queer thing about it is that the women who at.
fectcd these perfumes are now held up as the
incarnation of femininity and delioacy. They
were given to Albums of Memory dlled with
~sentimentality. They were addicted to such
ditties as:
My Mary's asleep by the wandering stream.
Flow gently, wset Avon, disturb not her dream.
Or this one:
The moon Is beAming DER the lake,
Come sail In your Light canoe.
Somehow 1t is hard to imagine these innocent
songsters, these damsels in ankle ties " and
hoopskirts, ~delugtng themselves with rank per-
fumes. And as q contrast, 1t Ia q trihe bowilder-
Ing to find the modern girl bachelor. the clear
eyed young woman who faces life as 1t Is, nor
dreams Of 1t the way she would like It to be,
who does not wear hoopskirts, but knickerbock-
ers on occasion-it Is bewildering to find her
d~itfusing a faint breath Of violets, elusive and
delicately sweet. But that Is the way the mat
ter stands. Let the philosophers make what
they will Of II.
A Broadway druggist, who makes q specially
OF perfumes and other toilet articles, says that
The violet fad. far from showing any sisns of be-
ing on the wane. is ssill increasing in popularity.
There is practically but one Perfume he
said the other day. ave soil more violet. fifty
times over, than all the other perfumes together.
Here are the other extracts" pointing to q case
full Of bottles. Those 60 to the country. We
sell almost nothing at all In New York, except
violet and some orris.
Every imaginable toilet preparation Is now
perfumed with violet. Not only the sachet
powder, the toilet water. and the soap, but tooth
powder. nail salve, and cerate for msssaginE the
face, all are favored with the omnipresent vio-
let. The latest novelty 10 a soft, thick, violet
colored flannel which exhales the most delicious
perfume. This flannel costs the neat little sum
OF Sl5 a yard. Not less than a quarter OF a yard
will be cut OF. The flannel is cut into small
strips and sewed into the Innings of sleeves,
waists, and skirts, and into the crowns OF hats
and OF bonnets. The odor from It 10 perhaps
the most exquisitely delicate to be obtained"
1t may be q surprise to many persons to know
that most violet perfumes are artificial. That
is, they are formed by compounding chemically
certain elements. This druggist says that one
OF the leading New York florists, famous for the
especial sweetness of his violets, is one OF the
ECEulAr CubtoulcEs ~ Luc pCEluhc SOunLcE. Il
buys the concentrated essence and puts a few
among the flowers.
Violet perfume may be extracted from the
flowers themselves. but 100 pounds OF violets
produce only one ounce Of the finest extract.
The beautiful valley of Grasse in the Alpes
Maritimes has always produced the worlds
supply Of violets. and up to q very recent date
the only known process OF extracting their odor
was through the medium of purified beef fat
The freshly. gathered v%iolets. after being care
fully picked over, were immersed in the melted
fat, maintained at ahiEh temperature for several
continued BY several times adding fresh violets
10 the same fat. until 1t became thoroughly
and set aside to solidify. In this shape it. wa.
known as the violet pomade of from
which, BY maceration with purified spirits, tbs
this way the product lacks strength. and before
Il is offered to the public 1t h.. been the habit O
which account for "sickish after dor notice
able in some brands of violet perfume.
1t il said by the druggist that he can produc,
violet extract now without the use Of fat. TIL,
a teaspoenfni Of this rep fese1 the Perfume sH o
2 hundred Parma violets. Other extracts may
o oe hsa At fs sttfs seeon9 prizes sssi fSwp !. to sa 10 se Evsoi s1
sec. after the fashion in champasnes.
us sd5f im@sa affs fsIH Ssf 70 this so GOan ;n;o can Be
A. soon az it strikes the air that disaereeeblt
edge Is lost and only the fragrance remains
used. Sachet powders are preferred. however
by many women. In the form in which they are
purposes. They are slipped into the box OF
stationery among the visiting cards, into hand
lingerie. This powder costs $40 a pound. The
perfume bill OF a New York woman Of fashion
may be therefore no insignificant item., To
Is no unusual thing.
Then there are the toilet gloves to be WORE
let. The cold creams and the powders, the soar
and the smelling Salts and the tooth paste, and
other articles make up what the druggist called
"a otlet symphony IN violet" There Is really
only one toilet article which the druggist will
with violet. That article 10 soap. or course
enormous quantities Of violet soap are sold, bul
Injurious to most skins. TIE only soap uni
versally recommended Is q pure olive.
The druggist says that the manufacture o.
"Ambergri. he said. which 10 an essentia
ingredient OF the finest extracts. costs ,S40o .
the true concrete essence OF violet Is worth aboul
$500 a pound; Other essential oils Of high quail
the greatest taste and skin are necessary for tn,
successful compromising Of perfumes. There
capable Of Being eUltiva TsdHi to the iss seq Vi H@p poin q
OF retnement-,
keen a perception in that direction as the tea
faster must have in his province. For instance
to test several different extracts = few drops Of
Daily. for a certain period. the tester SMELL
them carefully; In this way he estimates the!l
refinement and heir permanency. By the way
It Is a peculiar thing. but we often run acros.
cases OF 'odor blindness as it were. We find
people who not only cannot distinguish between
the different grades of the same perfume, bu,
who cannot recognize entirely different per
fumes; or make any distinction between them. +"
While the violet is absolutely supreme
among the perfumes Of to-day, there are still a
\ nHnnla hpNnFnA NlnffaI IN n rNNr M nnE RnNI1
as soon be induced to divorce wife or husband al
to abandon their ~favortte scent. Heliotrope
white rose. and musk have retained a shred Of
the banner under which they once VIGOROUSLY
ruled. but IL Is the merest shred. Orris, since II
is suggestive OF violets. has q borrowed popu'
larity. Violet orrts powder costs 81 a pound,
instead OF $40, which is the price OF the true
violet. But even the differences in cost cannot
make it anything but a very far OF second
One OF the Interesting items in the limo OF per
fumes Is v%etlvert. Vetivert comes in bundles
or mats OF yellow-brown fbres. II has a sug
gestion OF sandal wood about 1t, but when dry
seems 10 the unbiased nostri1 TO smell more
dusty than sweet. However, It Is popular in
the South. where the mats are wet and then
| hung in the ODeu windows. The air naasin1