Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1921-11-14
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 step
ped into a fairly large room. Here he
Explained are stored quarter Of a
million dollars worth of the imported
ingredients which go to make fine
perfumes. Shelves and tablets are
loaded with large bottles. cans with
chinese labels, foreign looking ket-
ties and canisters, and great stone
crooks.
| Turning on the lights. the chemist
went the rounds of the shelves. show
ing how the different natural essences
looked when they are shipped from the
foreign manufacturers. before they are
refined, and also allowing the visitor
the interesting IL not always deiec-
table privilege OF smelling the heavily
i concentrated odors
Violet for example, when imported
from southern France. is a greenish
iardlike 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 wooden paddle
and allowed to stand several DAYS
until the fat has absorbed the flowers
fragrance. Then the mass is strained
and cooled until it congeals
Eagerly you bend over the. lar of
greenish stuff when the top is lifted.
expecting TO catch a heavenly whiff
af r,fty. al
arises is more like green soap, and
not very healthy soap at that. The
essence is so strong that il seems TO
bear no relation 10 the delicate per-
: fume which it eventually becomes.
Altar of roses. too, is here in the
J form of liquid essence. This
: precious oil Is shipped from Bulgaria
; In nat, round metal canteens with big
shoppers. Surely, you think. this will
lind the room with sweetness. but
altar or roses at this stage is more
suggestive OF honeycomb-as near as
these strong, almost paralyzing odors
can be compared to anything else.
Beyond, en- the shelves, are lavender
from the Alps in big glass bottles. an,l
bergsmot in copper kettles from
Sicily and Italy. OIL of lemon in ket-
! ties is one of the few essences which
1 would be recognized here by the aver
age person from the odor. II smells
Just like the peel-strong, pleasantly
pungent. Cuniarin powder from,
Holland is another pleasant smellin.
4 Ingredient, giving the fresh scent ~
new mown hay.
i Perfume With "A Punch.
! But the climax of smelling to,,r l.
not reached. The head chemist picks
hup a COW horn. such as the pioneers
once used for. gun powder. There i.
a leather pouch fastened over the ton
This he cautiously removes. warsins
the visitor To inhale with discretion
II is timely warning for the seem
so carefully packed for shipping /,
that ef civet from the civet cat,
smell well known for its nauseatins
potency. Northern Africa contributes
this delicacy TO the perfumer. send
I Ing il in horns like the one described
Il This is the most powerful odor of tn
| entire collection, even outrankin
| musk which is seen and smelled near
! by.
II Musk, from the musk-deer. has In
| appearance of a dark brown pod an
/ smells damp and musty with a faIn
| suggestion of old leather in il
II bouquet. The value of the ding
| brown musk pods is in direct con
II trast to their esthetic appeal TIL
I pods are bought through a Frenc
/ bank. Special messengers carry IN
/ musk in small bags. each worth per
/ haps $4,000. Musk brings $500
I pound.
III Most people, the chemist explain
! ed. have no idea that these heay
/ animal odors play an important par
i in almost every perfume. The publ
4 thinks that rose perfume is singl
odor. Az matter of fact, a ros
HI preparation would probably includ
not only the delicate floral essenc-
but an oil sandalwood. or patchouli-