The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1898-04-16
Discovery that Revolutionizes the
Making Of Toilet Sop.
THE SCENT OF yIOLETS WILL NOW
LINGER IN SOAP.
transferring the Scents of Flowers to Vas
eline-Permanency of Odor Secured at
Last.
correspondence of the Boston Tran
script.)


Washington, April 8.-Recant inyen-
tons have accomplished some wonderful
things with perfumes 1t has been ascer-
tanned that vaseline can he employed to
great advantage as II substitute for lard
In obtaining and preserving the scents of
flowers, the quality of permanency, so
long sought, being in this way secured.
Ordinary vaseline would not do at all
for the purpose, but it must be of pecu-
liar kind. extremely pure, and taken at a
certain stage Of the manufacture of the
article. Most people know that colognes
are made by laying the petals of flowers
upon lard, which absorbs the perfume.
The lard is then STEPPED in alcohol,
which, having greater affinity for the
perfume than the lard itself possesses,
wlthdraws it from the lard and thus be-
comes the sweet scented spirits that fur
nlsh sweetness for my lady's handker-
chief. Before long, however, yaseline
will be used altogether in lace, and there
will be great improvement in the COM
lnercial colognes.
There is now being produced for the
first time violet soap that holds it's per-
fume. 1t is an entirely new achievement.
and the persistence of the delicious odor
impaired to the article may be Judged
from the fact that handkerchiefs PLACED
for short time in an empty box which
has contained the soap will retain the
scent for month after being transferred
ON coat-pocket Ever since the manu-
facture of violet soaps was first attempted
it has been considered that the ultimate
aim was satisfactory violet SOAP Lu-
bin was the first to make a good violet
soap, but it didinot hold it's perfume. At
present three kinds of violet soaps are
on the market. One of thess is favored
with the so-called Parma violet, which is
the most powerful and penetrating of
flower odors. The second has the per-
fume of the wood violet. The third is
the soap above described, which holds in
permanence The true bouquet OF the SIN
gle English violet. 1t is made of olive
oil, and represents the highest evolution
of soap-making up to date.
Firms in Chicago and elsewhere are
now turning out large quantities of
soap powder, which, they contend is iles-
tined to take the place OF cake soap al
most entirely. within half dozen years.
OF course soap powder has been more or
less in use for a long time past. but it has
remained for recent invention to make it
in all respects satisfactory. In it's per-
fected form. it has many advantages over
cake soap. One can take as much or as
little of it as one desires, aud it may be
utilized with greater rapidity For sha-
wing it will furnish lather in one-tenth
of the time. For hotels and other public
places it has q special merit from the
sanitary point Of view. Eefore long 1t
is asserted, there will be rs many Kinds
of soap powders as nowadays there are of
cake soaps, and they will be- psrfurned
with as great variety of scents.
1t is only recently that science has come
to understand just what an odor is. 1t is
a substance in state of minute sub-di-
other words. a gas. Flowers
owe their sweetness to essential oils con-
tanned in their petals. These essential
oils are always ready to volatilize at or
binary temperatures Take out the STOP
per of bottle of violet essence, and i'm
mediately it begins to perfume the room.
Flowers. then, are BOTTLES with the stop
pers out. The lard, CT vaseline, used in
the manufacture of colognes has an affin-
ity for such volatile oils, and so takes
them up and holds them. Musk is a solid
from which vapor is constantly passing
off, but in such minute particles that
a few grains of it will perfume room for
years without losing any perceptible part
Of its weight. This, of course, is an ami
NAL substance. but the principle is the
same
There are flowers which are scentless
By day, but smell powerfully at night |
Some roses are devoid of odor, while 9th
srs have positively bad smells. Many tea |
roses are odorless, as the ''Maire Guillot" |
and 'Triomphe de Milan.'' The "Soc-
rates. rose has the odor of peaches, the |
sSouveraine' that of melons, the Elsa |
bella Narbonnaud'' that of violets, the |
'Safrapo'' that of pinks, and the ma
that of apricots No two roses
IN the same bush have exactly the same
odor, experts declare, and at different |
times of day the same flower elnits differ.
Il l.