The Montgomery advertiser. [volume] (Montgomery, Ala.) 1885-1982, 1902-10-19
kOdOI Natures Tonic
Prepared only by e. Q. DEWITT & 90, Chicago
Thell bottle contains ~ times thee0c size
1eVln's Little EARLY RISRS
The famous little pills for constipstioa.
For Sale by { G. Fowler. and
F. Y. Hunter.
HOW MODERN PERFUMES
ARE FABRICATED.
Attempt in London to Regain Lost
British Industry-How Chem
istrv Has Outdone Nature.

F. A. Mckenzie, in London Mail.
plain-fronted factory in q back street
in Hackney. hard by Shoreditch slums
and Bethnal Green tenements. does not
seem a fitting home for craft that
would have made medieval magicians
hide their heads and ancient soothsayers
own themselves beaten.
likely quarter an attempt Is being MADE
to win back for England an industry
around which all the romance of science
clings. We have abolished the black
capped wizard. but in his place the mod
ern synthetic chemist has come. He does
things more wonderful than the mag
clan pretended to do.
In his hands rancid butteI distilled
with alcohol and sulphuric acid, is trans
formed into the essence of pineapple. He
takes putrid cheese and sugar. and brings
forth preparation that recalls memories
Of Pacific Islands in flower time. Evil
smelling chlorine under his treatment be-
comes an agent for the production OF the
essence of the lilac. or geranium. or lily
of the valley Strong vinegar and alco-
hol yield the delicious flavor of the pear.
Coal tar enters the laboratory. and after
being subjected to treatment becomes the
most delicate of flavorings or the most
dainty Of scents.
The Chemist VS.. Nature.
There was a time when man went for
their dyes, flavorings and scents to ma
ture Indigo, for example, was made from
the indigo plant. Today 1t is made with
cost, and many Of the old indigo plan
tations now lie waste. Lily Of the valley
and other scents were extracted from
flowers; this is no longer necessary; The
product is better, since in the extraction
of perfume from the flower valuable
properties are left behind or destroyed,
and even some undesirable ones remain.
The artificial product, properly ma1c,
contains the properties of the perfume In
the proportions in which they originally
existed in the flower.
Science has stepped into supply the
shortcomings of nature. Faraday. and
Wohler. nearly eighty years ago, FOUND
out how multitudes of new and interest
ing substances could be created and ar
tificially made. While chemists failed TO
learn how to make artificial diamonds
profitably-the dream Of so many-they
succeeded in giving us aniline dyes, which
have given greater profits than ever ola
1t is an old story now how this new
branch Of chemistry, which in part orig
mated in this country, was allowed to
neither the facilities nor the encourage
ment necessary for the long years of re-
search work which had to be faced; Till
quite recently young mel could not lear
II they would. And our manufacturers
did not seem especially anxious to en-
courage them. Rule of thumb methods
and the absence of exact research had
to be paid for. Germany secured almost
and sells us back ITS aniline dyes. The
invention employs in Germany alone 15,-
900 men, and we import from there 80 per
cent. of the dyes we use ourselves.
Essential Oils.
In the essential oil of scents our re-
cord was even worse 1t is this that
lends special interest to the effort now
being made to win back one branch or
the trade by ad opting the methods which
in Germany have proved SO successful.
The house of Bush. of Hackney. has
for generations been a prominent British
scent and lavoring essence maker IN
the old lines. 1t has scent forms aud
deposits in many lands.\ To the general
public a firm like this is not we'll known,
for firms that prepare the primary mat
ter of scents do not deal with the public
Their business is to cater for the adver-
Using perfume manufacturers. who in
turn combine, prepare and place scent
on the market.
While the British house was steadily
pursuing the old way, in common with
others. it found our markets being more
and more invaded by German chemists
About three years ago 1t resolved to
meet the Germans on their own ground.
1t was not thing that could be done
in a moment for the formulas for pro-
ducing artificial perfumes are among the
most jealously guarded trade secrets.
The first start had to be made in the
laboratory. For nearly two years DR..
sherwood, himself trained at Wurzburg
and his assistants, toiled over minute
experiments. quantity of the essential
matter of a plant would be obtained and
analyzed. The raw material thus dis
sected would perhaps cost 40 or 80 pounds
The first thing was to find exactly of
what the perfume consisted Why does
the rose give forth its odor? What
causes the scent Of the lily to be of one
kind and that of tho geranium another?
Easy questions 10 ask. but not SO easy
TO answer? And when The answer was
obtained the fight was only at its begin
ming The next step was to so combine
artificial material as ex ,ctly to reproduce
this see 1t.
A Remarkable Transformation.
1t is practically impossible for the lay
man to understand the process of chem
icql interchange by which chlorine and
alcohols and ether are made into berga-
mot and hyacinth and may blossom. To
sea a reeking chemical heated distilled
in a vacuum. combined with even more