Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-11-08
FABRICATING PERFUME
MAKING FLORAL SCENTS WITH
OUT FLOWERS.
Pineapple Flavor Obtained From
Rancid Butter, Alcohol and
Sulphuric Acid.
From the London Mail.

From the Lonuon Mail.
A plain-fronted factory in back street
in Hackney, hard by Shoreditch slums and
Bethnai 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.
Yet in just such a building in this unlike
II quarter an attempt is being made to win
back to England an industry around which
all the romance of science clings. We have
abolished the black-capped wizard, but in
his place the modern synthetic chemist has
come. He does things more wonderful than
the magician pretended to do.
In his hands rancid butter. distilled with
alcohol and sulphuric acid, is transformed
into the essence of pineapple. He takes pu-
trid cheese and sugar, and brings forth
preparation that recalls memories of Pacific
Islands In flower time. Evil-smelling chic
rine under his treatment becomes an agent
for the production of the essence of the
lilac, or geranum, or lily of the valley.
Strong vinegar and alcohol yield the deli
cious flavor of the pear. Coal tar enters the
laboratory, and after being subjected to
treatment becomes the most delicate of fla
workings or the most dainty of scents.
The Chemist VS.. Nature.
There was a time when men went for
their dyes, favorings and scents to nature
indigo for example, was made from the in
digo plant. Today it is made without it by
the chemist at a fraction of the cost, and
many of the old indigo plantations now lie
waste. Lily of the valley and other scents
were extracted from flowers; this Is no
longer necessary. The chemist will tell you
that the artificial product Is better, since in
the extraction of perfume from the flower
valuable properties left behind or de-
md Cirah 10 nrnc
main. The artificial product, properly
made contains the properties of the per-
fume in the proportions in which they origi-
nally existed in the flower.
Science has stepped In to supply the
shortcomings of nature. Faraday and Woh-
Ter. nearly eighty years ago. found out how
mult1tudes of new and interesting sub
stances could be created and artificially
made. While chemists failed to learn how
to make artificial diamonds profitably-the
dream of so many-they succeeded in giving
us anfline dyes which have given greater
profit than ever diamonds could.
1t Is an old story now how this new
branch of chemistry, which in part origi-
mated in this country, was allowed to drift
out of our hands. Here we had neither the
facilities nor the encouragement necessary
for the long years of research work which
had to be faced Till quite recently young
men could not learn If they would. And
our manufacturers did not seem especially
anxious to encourage them Rule of thumb
had to be paid for. Germany secured al
most monopoly. Today 1t buys our coal
tar and sells us back its aniline dyes The
aniline dye industry originally a British
invention. employs in Germany alone
1000 men, and we import from there 90
per cent of the dyes we use ourselves
Essential Oils.
In the essential oil of scents our record
was even worse. 1t is this that lends spe-
Cfal interest to the effort now heipp ,nodo
to win back one branch of the trade by
adopting the methods which In GERMANY
have proved successful The house of
Bush, of Hackney, has for generations been
a prominent British scent and favoring
essence maker on the old lines 1t has
scent farms and depots in many lands. To
the general public a firm like this is not
well known, for firms that prepare the pri-
mary matter of scents do not deal with the
public. Their business is to cater for the