The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1902-02-08
HEALTH VALUE OF SCENTS.

Science at present shows a tenden-
cy to turn back to some of the beliefs
OF the ancients regarding scents cen
turles ago. Scents were accounted
more than 1uxuries.
Odorous herbs, notably vervain,
warded off the evil eye. The Mosaic
ritual is full of hyssop, nard and
trankincense. Greece set cinnamon
gates to its elysium, and surrounded
It with a scented river a hundred
cubits broad, which souls swan thro'
and thereby purged themselves of
earthly grossness.
Pliny records eighty-fve remedies
derived from odorous rue, forty-one
whose base was mint, ,thirty-two balms
from roses, twenty-one from lilies,
bulb and bloom, and seventeen med
-ssaments strong in the virtue of vio-
lets. Thus it appears that the violet
cute for cancer is among the very
newthings that surface science scorn-
ed because they were so very old.
Nov, say various experts, one must
choose and use perfumes with an eye,
or rather, nose to health. So it is
worth while to set down the proper
ties attributed to various perfumes.
Pure violet essence is said to be es-
pecially suitable to nervous people.
But it must be obtained from the
flowers themselves, not the chemical
limitations. Chemically derived per-
fumes are irritant, poisonous even, to
persons of especially sensitive consti-
tuition.
True flower scents are obtained in
three ways: First, by spreading
fresh blossoms upon glass thickly
smeared with pure grease, letting
them stand in the sun, and as they
wilt, replacing them until the grease
is as fragrant as the flowers second,
by repeatedly infusing fresh petals in
oil and, third, by infusing them in
ether, which is then distilled to dry
solid.
AS this solid sells for $3.50 an ounce,
it is easy to understand why the ether
process, though far and away the
best, is not commonly used. But the
scented grease and the essences made
by sleeping it in pure spirit are never
cheap. After all the scent possible
has been extracted from the grease it
is still fragrant enough to make the
very finest perfumed soap.
All the citrene scents, bergamot,
neroli, orange-fower water-are re-
freshing, and in degree stimulating,
if properly some animal base is essen
tial-musk, civet or ambergris.
If the base is too strong it makes
the fower-scent curiously instant.
People who feel themselves faint in
crowded room, are often the victims
of several scents simultaneously at
tacking their nerves. A single odor,
no matter how strong, after awhile
deadens the olfactory nerves, whereas
d scombination keeps them active.
Hay fever, which, it is believed by
some, arises from the irratant proper
ties of fine odorous pollen yielded by
grass and weed fields, is in a way
type of perfume action. Scent par
ticles in general are not strong enough
to set UP violent ills. None the less,
they have their effect. Witness the
refreshment of lavender water when
one is faint from heat or crowding.
Lavender is peculiarly suited to high
strung temperaments. tits soothing
as we'll as refreshing, without being
unduly stimulating.
Jasmine should always be used
pure. Alone it tones aud braces the
whole system, but in almost of all its
compounds is singularly depressing.
Neroli is one exception. Jasmine
and neroli together in faint essence
make the scent of scents for all who
have hysterical tendencies.