Arizona republican., 1921-10-11
Ry Frederic ]. haskin

BUFFALO. N. Y, Oct. 10-The perfumes modern women use are more delicate products of the per- fumer's art than the famous vials of scent treasured as priceless by Cath crime di Medici and other medieval royalties-so we are told by the head chemist of a perfume laboratory here
 Queen Catherine's official per fumer held many secrets of a most secret business, but he could learn things from modern perfumers, if the art is not still a secret and mysteri- ous one. Many of the laboratories in which perfumes are concocted admit no visitors, but a ''big factory to family plant here agreed to show the reporter through its perfume sec
 tion-
 The head chemist of the depart ment led the way through rooms that were fragrant with flower scents and where hugs rolling tanks hold the essences. Pipes run along the ceil- ing and end in spigots labeled rose. hyacinth. jasmine and so on. To mix perfume for bottling tank is then rolled up and the desired spigots are turned on.
 But perfume making is not so easy as this might lead you to think. Oth- CT processes first refine the natural essences and long painstakingly quan- titles evolved in the laboratory by a master perfumer. This is where the most important secrets of the busi- ness are guarded. A formula for a successful or promising perfume is as valuable as a state paper. If oth- CT firms should learn of the ingre- dIanfS and Nf mula the work of many laboratory experiments necessary to produce it would be a loss.
 The master perfumer is an artist, often temperamental one. He sits among his vials, test tubes, and bits of cotton soaked in mixtures of scent, always mixing and shifting for the elusive combination that will be new and at the same time appealing in some way. suggestive of fresh sum- mer fields, of the subtle. languorous orient or of the old fashioned garden.
 When he gets it-and he may work for months with some troublesome or fascinating problen-he feels that he has given the world a work of art. Over here the master perfumer gets less recognition that he does in Eu- rope. Il PaTis, his productions bear his name and he is regarded with the same respect as the creators of beau tiful clothes In this country the man. ufacturing firm takes the limelight The master perfumer may be no less a master. but he remains unknown.
 The Raw Materials
 In one corner of the perfume de- partment of this plant, is the steel door of vault. The head chemist swung open the heavy door and then stepped into a fairly large room Here. he explained, are stored quar- ter of a million dollars worth of the imported ingredients. which go to make fine perfumes. Shelves and ta- bles are loaded with large glass bot ties, cans with Chinese labels. for eign looking kettles and canisters, and great stone crooks.
 Turning on the lights. the chemist went the rounds of the shelves, show ing how the different natural es- sences look when they are shipped from the foreign manufacturers be- fore they are refined, and also allow ing the visitor the interesting if not always delectable privilege of smell ing the heavily concentrated odors.
 Violet. for example, when imported from Southern France, is a greenish, lardlike mass. The essence has been extracted overseas by pouring large quantities of petals into a mixture of melted beef suet and purified lard This is stirred with a wooden paddle and allowed to stand several days un- til the fat has absorbed the flow CTS fragrance. Then the mass is strained until it congeals.
 Eagerly you bend over the jar of greenish stuff when the top is lift ed, expecting to catch a heavenly whiff of pure violet, but the scent which arises is more like green soap and not very healthy soap at that The essence is so strong that it seems to bear no relation to the delicate perfume which it eventually becomes
 Altar of roses, too, is here in the form of a liquid essence. This preci- ous oil is shipped from Bulgaria in flat, round metal canteens with big stoppers. Surely you think, this will fill the room with sweetness, but at tar of roses at <this stage is more suggestive of honeycomb-as near as these strong, almost paralyzing odors can be compared to anything else.
 Beyond, on the shelves, are laven-