The National tribune., 1911-04-27
No SMELL THE SWEETEST.
Perfume Not Popular With Nice Poo
7pIe-History of Perfume.

Tit-ffsstOTI vi IetiuifC.
Thank heaven the time is practi-
cally here when the sweet, wholesome
woman recognizes the fact that there
is mo smell so sweet as no smell
at all" In other words, soap and
water and sanitary living have
brought about d revolution in the use
of pcrfumery, and a really nice
woman would not think of saturatinS
herself in perfumery. 1t is something
awful to enter q crowded ballroom
and get a mingled odor OF musk
pachoali. vfolets, lilies, roses and car
nations thrown off by over heated
women in evening dress. 1t is SIM
ply loathsome to have 10 endure the
dead" odors upon odors of silks and
satins that are hung away with per-
fumed pads inside of them. Really
and truly, moth balls and tar paper
are a joy to the olfactories after the
resurrectcd perfume of ground up
orris root. sandal wood, and other
pad powders.
l think the clean minded, we'll in
formed woman Shuns perfumed soaps,
pads, and unguents because of their
origin. In the olden days they were
used to disguise or kill the odors of
unwashed bodies and more or less OBJ
iectionably unclean clothing. Soap
and water were not highly priced in
the earlier days of civilization, and if
the truth must be told, some of our
high and mighty kings and queens
were frightfully filthy. Heads had
bugs in them, finger nails never
knew any kind of manicuring, and the
IL 4 lii
diseases from lack of familiarity with
soap and water was heralded far
and wide as a wonderful beauty.
There are few who recognize the
Importance that odors have played in
history. They have had Il real sig
nificance in the annals of European
courts.
The fashions change, but from the
first moment that the world emerged
from the dark middle ages it has al
ways been the mode TO go scented.
Each year makes a new scent popular
but when the season is over its vogue
dies out and only the old favorite
scent remain.
Back in the days when little moro
than barbarians filed the palaces of
the cities of Europe the perfumes
used were in the form of ungucnts
and oils. The fatty compound i'll
which they came had little of conve-
nience to rS ommend it. hut scents
were then an exceeding luxury. Some
curious insta accs taken from the rec
ords of those days will illustrate this.
IN the inI emory of tho Due de Nor
mandie is 10 he found note regard
which TO put balm" In the invcn-
tory of tho Dukes of Burgund"
there is mentioned "a bottle of gold
for the reception of ciyet." perfume
that was then all the rage.
So far back as the fourteenth and
fifteenth centuries the fad of the hour
WAS the Birds OF Cyprus They
were aromatic herbs. ground and
moulded into the form of birds. and
they were burned at banquets NoI
description of their composition has
come down through the ages but the
supposition is today that they were
very much the same as the 'seraglio
pastilles.' which street Yenders. dis
guised as Turks. sell on the highways
OF the Continental capitals.
Charles V. of France had among
his most treasured possessions, it is
well known, a hollow golden pome-
granate to hold his perfumes. Louis
XVI. of France was given by the
Queen of Sicily a rosary of musk.
Odorous chapiets were quite the fash
ion III those days, and they exist even
now in some parts of Spain and in
some quarters OF the Orient.
In 1920 or thereaboUts the age of
powder and cosmetics began. and the
use of perfumes became widely spread
every courtier OF every kingdom haY
ing his pet scent. II was Catherine
de Medicis, tho bourgeoise Floren-
tine" as she was known at that day,
VINO brought perfumes to their great
est popularity and their highest
IT,, MI rI, ff,1
ported from Italy the chief scent
maker of the world, Rene le F'loren-
tine. set him up in a shop at the Pont
au Change and constituted herself his
patron, making him the perfumer Of
the court. Rene was chiefly celebrat-
ed for his perfumed gloves. and there
is a. strange romance hanging over
his memory which tells that, in ad
dition to the science of odors. he had
the art of poisoning at the ends of
jlis skilled fingers, and was finally ac-
Cused of having encompassed the
death of the mother of Henry ".
The art that Catherine de Medicis
had placed upon its feet grew and cX-
panded until, during the reign of
Louis XIV. Versailles was known
through the world as '"Thc Perfum-
cd Court" \ century and Il half
before that powdered heads had GONE
in, and this custom became SO uni
versal that the costume of deepest
mourning and the greatest mark of
sorrow was TO go unpowdcred. The
powder used was made of starch and
it seldom Happened that it was left
unperfumed. So great. during its
popularity, was the amount of labor
required TO construct womans
coiffurc that the maids and matrons
OF the court were accustomed upon
retiring for the night 10 carefully tic
up their heads in great strips of
white cloth in order that they might
not have TO undergo the task of hair
dressing each day.
Perfumed snuff was habitually
used by Prince de Conde. and 1t was
in this nobleman's presence that the
Marechale .d'Aumont composed the
celebrated powder which made her
famous and is still known under the
name of "poudre q la Marechale."
Louis NN's court was indeed the
heyday of perfumes. To such an eX-
tent was tho art of sccnting the per-
son carried that it was part of the
imperial program each day TO name
the particular odor to be adopted by
the courtiers and great ladies in or
der that mixture of scents might not
result. The Revolution killed. of
course, this gentle art, but under the