The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-01-01
FASHIONS IN PERFUMES
sIORE SCENTS USED BY MORE WON
EN- THAN EVER BEFORE.
An Increase in DeIicacy AIsO-Violet
the Favorite-HOw Flowers Are
DeSpoiIed of Their Scent.
New York Sun.

day it is the most popular perfume on the
market There is a diversity of opinion
about the use of perfumes. Some people
say that the use of any sort of scent is bad
form, others declare that delicate fra
GRANGE emanating from the clothing denotes
daintiness in women.
ITO be in good odor signifies moral pur-
ity," say these people, land so why should
not clean, sweet fragrance mean personal
purity?"
But answer those holding an opposite
view, Socrates was pretty wise man. and
his teachings fit the modern world as well
as they did his own, and he disapproved of
perfumes He said: There is the same
smell in a slave and gentleman when both
are perfulned. {"
All the same, perfumes We're never richer,
costlier more deliberately put up, more deli
cate or more fashionable than they are to-
, day, and millions Of dollars are expended
for them yearly. AS civilization advances
women learn how to apply scents more ar
tistically than they did during the reign of
Elizabeth for instance, when the extensive
and free use of perfumes gave rise to much
satirical comment by the authors of the
day. Nowadays the idea is to apply scent
by means of perfumed baths or the apparel
so daintily that on perceiving it ono wishes
that it were a mite stronger. There are peO-
pie who have not adopted this plan, how
ever, and cling to the notion that if a little
is good a lot is better. When asked about
the present fashion in perfumes and how
they are made an authority said:
when you speak of perfume the mind of
the average person turns elrher to a bottle
of cologne of a variety familiar in youth or
to bottle of violet extract or toilet water.
Few people realize to what an enormous
extent the perfumery business has grown;
not even the very wealthy women VINO buy
q thousand or more dollars worth of per-
fumes a year understand 1t. When we
spoke of perfume two generations ago we
meant a small or large bottle of German
cologne generally, but when we speak of
perfumes to-day we mean sweet extracts for
the handkerchief, toilet waters for the bath,
powders and creams and lotions for the
face, tablets for the breath, pastiles for
seeming a ROOM essence to be burned in
perfume lamps and pleasing scents in a hun
bred and one other forms.
violet perfumes are undoubtedly the most
popular, which, l suppose, makes that odor
the most fashionable, but l am almost
ashamed to say that the most fashionable
people prefer some of the stronger animal
doors 1t is fashion of the present day
for people to say that they do not like
musk but confidentialIy the public taste for
musk is StupendouS Those substances con-
tanning it always gain the preference in
sale so long as one assures his customer
that there is no musk in it. But you asked
fumery is made in this country COMPARE
lively, and much of that is made from pom
AIDES imported from France in tin cans or
boxes. Synthetic perfumes however, are
getting to be very popular, and just as
good as those made from pomade, though
we can't always count on what chemicals
will do, and sometimes instead of getting
sweet odor, one is produced which savors
strongly of Barren island.
THEIR ORIGIN
''The origin of perfumery PIiny traces to
the East, and from the most ancient times
flowers have been raised for their perfumes.
Perfumes are not obtained from the doors
of plants alone, however. There are also
employed materials of animal origin, such
as ambergris, a substance found in the sea
floating near the Island of Sumatra the
Moluccas, and Madagascar, and on the
coasts of America Brazil, China, Japan,
and Coromandel; castor, a secretion of the
castor beaver; c1Yet, q substance obtained
from the ctVet cat and musk, which is TAX
en- from the musk deer Flowers WELD per-
fumes in cold hot climate but those
growing in a warm latitude are most pro-
line in their odor. This being so, it is natural
that the south of Europe should be the
garden spot of the world for the rnanufac-
turerS OF perfumes. Graase, Cannes and Nice
are the principal scenes of their operations
LOT near those places flower growers find a.
climate admirably suited to perfecting
plants for the trade. The finest lavender in
tne world IS grown at Mitcham. in Eng
l&nd, and brings eight times as much as
that grown in France, and is fully worth
the difference for its rare delicacy of odor:
but in almost everything else save pepner,
mint the south of Europe is superior To
give some idea of the commercial impor-
tance OF this artistic business flower grow
ing, one of the large perfumers at Cannes
ten years ago employed annually 1l0D0
POUNDS OF orange flowers, II, go pounds of
cassie mowers, 10000 pounds of rose leaves
0zVoJ pounds OF jasmine blossoms 2OOC5
pounds of yiolets and 5000 pounds of tube
roses, besides other odorous plants since
| then the business in wet and drv nerfumeS
mas increased tenfold, and l should like to
know know Just how much material this firm used
fowers?'' 'oO iioii the
volumes could be written on this sub
| JecI, answered the authority. The study
! OF perfumes should hold deep interest for
| the chemist and philosopher as well as the
! practical perfumer. For ages psvchoIogistS
have been seeking to find how far diffe slso9
! doors act upon the human intellect. If
! Wouid take too much time and space to tell
! just how perfumers prepare the innIn1sr-
dplS extracts OF essences, waters, oils, pO-
| mades, ETC., which they need in their bust
Tess; ACCORDING to a great French author
! lty the operation is divided into four dis
! tirct acknowledgements distiIIation
maceratlon and absorption. Expression is
never adopted except where the plant is ey
ceedingly prolific in it's essential oil and
! means simply pressing it out by mechanical
means Distillation needs no explanation.
but maceration does Pomades from which
| perfumes are made, are obtained bv this
| operation A quantity of purified beef or
| deer SueC, mixed with purified lard, is nut
| into a clean vessel and is melted by steam
heat; the flowers required for the odor de-
sired are carefully picked and while per-
fectly fresh are dropped into the LIQUID fat
and allowed to remain for from twelve TO
| fOrty-eight hours. The fat draws the odor
out and becomes highly perfumed. The fat
/ IS strained from the exhausted blossoms and
fresh flowers are added from ten to twenty
times over till the desired strength for the
pomade is obtained. Perfumed oils arc
made in the same way, but olive oil is used
instead of suet. OF all the processes for Sc
curing the perfumes of flowers ABSORPTION is
the most important, for this method Yields
rot only the most exquisite essence indi-
rectly but also all those fine French no.
mades and oils highly and daintilv rpr-
fumed. No people understand this operation
as the French do. Some flowers have such
delicate and elusive odors that the heat re-
quired in maceration either greatly modi6es
or completely spoils them: this process is
carried on cold so as to obviate that Square
frames. three inches deep, two wide and
three long. with a glass bottom, are re-
quired. Over the glass q layer of fat is
spread. a quarter of an inch thick, with a
sprinkled and allowed to remain from twelve
to seventy-two hours. The animal odors
are only used in combination with other
scents, and, even to the most fleeing ones
give permanence to them, a quality much
esteemed.
STYLES IN PERFUMES.
you ask about the changing styles in
perfumes and the whims Of women with
reference to them. Right here let me go on
+H,a+ tI,a love nf