Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-07-05
MAKING PERFUMES.
Processes by Which Scent of Flowers
Is Extracted and Preserved.
ris

From the Paris Monde Moderne
In the southern part Of France. which
borders on the Mediterranean and extends
between the Alps and the Rhone, the cui-
ture OF flowers has developed into a great
industry for the manufacture Of perfumes
In the department of the Alpes- Maritimes
the perfumery industry has probably made
greater strides than in any other portion
OF France. Here are more than sixty fac
tories, the total product of which is valued
at more than 100000 per year, and over
1900 persons are constantly employed,
without counting the multitude of harvest
hands. The more important harvests are
those OF the rose. 100000 pounds; the
orange flower 100000 pounds; the violet
100000 pounds: the Jasmine. 1900, 600
pounds: the tuberose. 100000 pounds, the
geranium. 10000 pounds and the cassia,
600 pounds. If we consider the fact
that all of these flowers are weighed with
out their stems 1t is evident that the auan-
tity Is enormous, and this fact will be sun
better appreciated when we say that In or
der to obtain two pounds of rose leaves no
less than thousand flowers are required
while thousand punches of violets, each
with a diameter of more than a foot, fur
nish only forty pounds of flowers
Flowers all go through a preliminary
treatment of being placed in cold room
and plants such as lavender thyme, spike
mint roots such as orris, fruits and woods
are passed through cutting and macerating
machines. After this has been done the
perfume Is extracted, the principal methods
being distillation. maceration, enfeurase
and by the use of dissolvents. Dstillation
is only employed when the perfume is not
injured by heat or steam In this case
the flowers and water are put in a great
alembic and heated. After the water be-
gins to boil 1t discrepancies the vegetable
cells containing the perfume and this ia
ntrtyt ha md
condensed. There is thus obtained mix
ture of water and perfume and 1t is merely
necessary now to separate the two The
process of distillation, however has the
great disadvantage of frequently altering
the perfumes obtained and therefore, when
IT Is desired to obtain finer extracts re-
course must be had to other methods.
For maceration the flowers are thrown in
to a mass of fat melted and raised to a
temperature Of IS degrees centigrade and
completely submerged. after several hours
the perfume being Incorporated with the
fat The mass is then strained to get rid
of the flowers. after which the latter are
soaked in boiling water and compressed hy-
draulically. In this way all Of the perfume
is extracted. In the enfleurage method
frames are used, the bottoms of which are
glass. The frames are placed one above
the other. small space being left between
the glass plates. The fatty substance is
spread on the glass; and the flowers are
placed in direct contact with the fat. At
the END or q certain time, Which varies
with the flowers, the perfume is absorbed
by the fat, after which the flowers are re-
newed until the pomade is Of the desired
strength.
a third method Is that OF volatile dis.
solvents In general, the dissolvent en-
ployed Is an ether Of refined petroleum.
The apparatus used are Of different forms.
hut they must all contain an extractor,
into which the flowers are placed cold with
the dissolvent; a decanter, where the water
contained in the flowers is separated from
the mixture; distffling alembic which
forces the dissolvent back through the
flowers and certain number of reser-
voirs, in which the dissolvent is kept in a
pure state or charged with perfume. The
dissolyent after being charged with the
perfume evaporates and leaves behind the
essential oil. This method is by far the
best. In the single department of the AL
pes-Maritimes the annual production Is 800
coo pounds of pomade and four million
quarts Of extracts.