The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-08-02
PERFUMES ARE A NECESSITY.

Those who decry the use of per-
fumes. particularly by the fair sex,
display their ignorance of one of the
requirements of nature. To many peo-
pie pleasing odor is as necessary as
tasteful meal and cannot be dis
pensed with except at the cost Of com
fort and sometimes of health.
No artifice augments woman's witch
cry more than the subtle, faint fra
GRANGE which she contrives to impart
to the f1uttering folds of her gowns and
belongings.
Another means of obtaining the same
charm is the perfume bath, whose fra
grant aroma clings to the body for
hours afterward. Not only does the
delicate scent cling. but the perfumed
bath gives to the skin a soft, velvet
like appearance. Such a bath Is an
admirable substitute for aromatic toilet
salves and sweet-scented soaps
Some women have even tried the
plan of injecting perfume under the
skin with a syringe in order to make
an odor of violets or roses cling to
them. A few drops of perfume is all
that is required. From the moment
the skin is charged with the scent d
| faint, subtle. Elusive perfume seems to
breathe forth about the woman who
has tried this freak of fashion This
plan. though. is not without it's sug-
| gestion of danger.
Perfumes are health-giving as well
as beauty-giving and their use, there
fore, is not wholly a matter of taste.
Nearly all perfumes have antiseptic
qualities and are valuable in keeping
away infection.
The perfumes which are the most
agreeable to the sense are not always
the most helpful. 10 the nerves. Am
bergris. for instance, is positively Of
| fensiVe to many, yet 1t is said to pos
sess wonderful power of clearing the
| brain and driving away the blues On
| the other hand, altar of roses, with the
suggestion of glowing suns and gor-
peous eastern colors, predisposes tc
tears.
A faint odor of musk acts as tonic
for which the best antidote is the odor
of sandal wood. The fragrance of cit
ron is as soothing to nervous folk as
the sound of far-off music.
The scent Of orange flowers is so de-
| pressing to the action of the heart that
1T is not safe for any one with dis
east of that organ to inhale it for any
length of time. Reviving perfumes
come from the herbaceous plants
| largely, from the rodors of mignonette,
Rosemary and lavender. and soothe
the nerves. In the time of Shakes
peare some flowers ware especially ded-
| icated to middle age. Perdita puts
lavendar in this list.
The perfumes of lilies, jasmine and
acacia are pleasant and soothing to a
healthy sense, though delicate nerves
cannot enjoy them. even in their gar
den freshness. Brought closer in clus-
tiers of blossoms, their odor is narcotic
l and dpnrpG CinU Zn that
| faint at the smell of them and may be
put into heavy slumber as If drugged
| by their odor.
A vivid perfume Is nearly always
| bracing, while a subtle one is gener-
| ally enervating.
A woman should choose the perfume
she uses as carefully as she selects
her garments. Some one says that a
woman who changes her perfume as
she does the style of her bonnet is
| hopeless. On the contrary, the wom-
an who always exhales the same deli
cate fragrance is like the flower she
| resembles. Her friends think of her
and know her as the incarnation of the
violet or the rose with which she is
assimilated. 80
The character of the woman, or, at
least, ITS DEVELOPMENT, may be told
by perfume.
Tell me your perfume" says the
person versed in this lore, land III tell
you what you are"
Violet is the device of the coquettish
II is faint fragrant, Elusive, drawing
you on to seek out its artful patroness.
AS for the scent of orchids. that is for
the grand and stately dame. The scent
of the marechal rose is the scent of re-
greet and of sentimental memories and
of the white rose that of young love.