Evening star., 1905-07-30
MAKING PERFUMES.
Method of Extracting Odors From
Flowers in France.
From Public Opinion.

From Public Opinion
In the southern part Of France, which
borders the Mediterranean and extends
between the Alps and the Rhone. the cul-
ture of flowers has developed into a great
| industry for the manufacture of perfumes.
In the department of the Alps Maritimes
| the perfumery industry has probably made
| greater strides than in any other portion OF
| France" says NJ. Georges Cages in the
Monde Moderne of Paris. Here are moro
| than sixty factories. the total product OF
which is valued at more than $iu0J,OO0 PER
| year. and over 900 persons are constantly
| employed, without counting the multitude
| OF harvest hands. The more important
harvests are those of the rose. 4U0o, Coz
| pounds; the orange flower, oUOo.Uvo pounds;
| the violet GOO,0Uo pounds; jasmine, l,2Oo,-
| Un pounds; the tuberose, 10000 pounds;
| the geganium 70,COJ pounds and the cassa
| $4,000 pounds. Ii We consider the tact that
| all of these flowers are weighed without
| their stems it is evident that the quantity
! is enormous, and this fact VIII be Stlll bet
| ter appreciated when say that in order
| to obtain two pounds of rose leaves no less
| than a thousand flowers are required, whiio
| a thousand punches of violets, each with
a diameter of more than d foot, furnish
| only forty pounds of flowers.
Flowers all go through d preliminary
treatment of being placed in a cold room.
and plants sue has lavender thyme, spike.
mint, roots such orris, fruits and woods.
are passed through cutting and mdceratlng
machines. After this has been done the
perfume is extracted, the principal meth
obs being diStillation, macslatlon emile Ut
age and by the of dissolvents. Distilla-
ton is only employed when the perfume IS
not injured by heat or steam. In this case
the flowers and water are put in great
alemic and heated. After the water begini
to boil Ii disorganiZes the vegetable cells
containing the perfume. and this is carried
by the mthrough the worm and con-
densed There is thus obtained mixture
nf % and uprflIme and il is merely
eSsary now to separate the two The proc
ess OF distillatiUn. however has the great
disadvantage of frequently altering the per
fumes obtained, and, therefore, when II Is
desired to obtain finer extracts recourse
must be had to other methods.
For maceration the flowers are thrown
into a mass of fat melted and raised TO a
temperature of Co centigrade and COM
pletely submerged, after several hours the
perfume being Incorporated with the tat.
The mass is then strained to get rid of the
flowers, after which the latter are soaked
in boiling water and compressed hydraulic
ally In this way all the perfume is ex-
tracted. In the eniteurage method frames
are used the bottom OF which are glass.
The frames are placed one above the other,
small space being left between the stasS
plates. The fatty substance is spread on
the glass, and the flowers are placed IN dl-
rect contact with the fat. At the end of a
certain time, which varies with the flowers,
the perfume is absorbed by the fat after
which the flowers are renewed uEth 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 pero cum.
Tke apparatuses used are of diferent form,
but they must all contain an extractor INTO
which the flowers are placed co.d with lhe
6issoIyent a decanter where the water con-
tanned in the flowers is separated from the
mixture a distilling alembic which forces
the dissolvent back through the mowers
and "A certain number of reservoirs in which
the dissolyent is kept in a pure state or
charged with perfume. The dissoivent after
being charged with the perfume evaporates
and leaves behind the essential OIL This
,natbod is by far the best. In the single de-
nartment of the Alpes- -Maritimes the an
mai production is 500 Oo0 pounds of rom-
ade and 4,OOoOG0 quarts of extracts.