The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1921-10-12
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
Information Bureau
FREDERIC j. HAsKIN. Director.
Washington, d. G.
THE PERFUMER Ar WORK.

delicate products of the perfumer's art
than the famous walls of scent treas
ured as priceless by Catherine di
Medici and other medieval royalties
so we are told by the head chemist
| of a perfume laboratory here.
Queen GATHERINGS official perfumer
held many secrets of a most secret
business, but he could learn things
from modern perfumers, if the art
was still a secret and mysterious one.
| Many of the la laboratories in which per-
fumes are concoeted admit no visitors.
| but a big factory to family" plant
| here agreed to show the reporter thru
| its perfume section.
! The head chemist of the department
! led the way thru rooms fragrant with
| flower scents where huge rolling tanks
| hold the essences. Pipes run along
| the ceiling and end in spigots labeled
rose, hyacinth, jasmine, and SO on. To
mix a perfume for bottling, a tank
is rolled up and the desired spigots
| are turned on.
/ But perfume making is not so easy
as this might lead you to think. Other
/ processes first refine the natural es-
/ sences, and long before quantities of
any perfume can be mixed, the form
ula must be painstakingly evolved in
| the laboratory by master perfumer.
| This is where the most important
| secrets of the business are guarded
A formula for a successful or prom
Using perfume is as valuable as state
paper If other firms should learn
| the ingredients and proportions of the
formula, the work of many laboratory
| experiments necessary to produce it
would be a loss.
| The master perfumer is an artist,
often a tefpperamental one. He sits
among his walls, 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-sug gestive of fresh sum-
mer fields, of the subtle, languorous
orient, or of the old-fashioned garden.
| When he gifts it-and he may work
| for months with some troublesome,
yet fascinating problem-he feels that
he has given the world work of art.
Over here the master perfumer gets
| less recognition than he does in
Europe. In Paris, his productions
bear his name and he is regarded with
the same respect as the creators of
beautiful clothes In this country the
manufacturing firm takes the lime
light. The master perfumer may be
no less a master. but he remains un-
known.
The Raw Materials.
In one corner of the perfume de-
partment of this plant, is the steel
door of a vault. The head chemist
swung open the heavy door and
stepped into a fairly large room.
Here, he explained. are stored
auarter of million dollars worth of
the imported ingredients which go to
make fine perfumes. Shelves and
tables are loaded with large glass bot
ties, cans with Chinese labels, foreign
looking Kettles and canisters, and great
jstone crooks.
Turning on the lights. the chemist
went try rounds of the shelves, show
ing how the different natural essences
look when they are shipped from the
kforeign manufacturers. before they are
refined, and also allowing the visitor
| the interesting if not always deiec-
table privilege of smelling the heavily
concentrated odors.
Violet, for example, when imported
from southern France, is a greenish
ilardlike 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 flowers
fragrance. Then the mass is strained
and cooled until it congeals-
Eagerly you bend over the Jar of
greenish stuff when the top is lifted,
expecting to catch heavenly Whit
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 per-
lfume which it eventually becomes.
Altar of roses. too, is here in the
form of liquid essence. This precious
oil is shipped from Bulgaria in flat,
round metal canteens with big stop
lpers. Surely, you think, this will fill
the room with sweetness, but altar of
roses at this stage is more suggestive
of hOneycOmb-aS near as these
strong. almost paralyzing doors can
be compared to anything else.
Beyond, on the shelves, are lavender
from the Alps in big glass bottles,
and bergamot in copper kettles from
Sicily and Italy. Oil of lemon in ket-
ties is one of the few essences which
would be recognized here by the aver
age person from the odor. 1t smells
just like the peel-strong, Eleas-
lantly pungent. Cumarin powder from
Holland is another pleasant smelling
new mown hay.
Perfume With a Punch.
But the climax of the smelling tour
is not reached. The head chemist
picks up q COW horn, such as the pio-
neers used for gun powder. There is
a leather pouch fastened over the top.
: This he cautiously removes, warning
the visitor to inhale with discretion.
! It is a timely warning for the scent
so carefully packed for shipping is
that of civet from the civit cat-a
smell well known for its nauseating
: potency. Northern Africa contributes
; this delicacy to the perfumer, sending
lit in horns like the one described. This
is the most powerful odor of the en-
tire collection, even outranking musk
which is seen and smelled nearby.
Musk, from the musk-deer, has the
Iappearanc6 of dark brown nod and
smells damp and musty with faint
suggestion of old leather in it's bou-
quet. The value of the dingy brown
musk pods is in direct contrast to their
esthetic appeal. The pods are bought
: thru French bank. Special messen-
gers carry the musk in small ba gs,
each worth perhaps $1,000. Musk
brings $500 a pound.