The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1921-10-10
The Perfumer at Work
BY FREDERIC J. HAskIN

BUFFALO, N. Y. Oct. 10.-The per
fumes modern women use are more
delicate products of the perfumer's art
than the famous walls of scent treas
ured as priceless by Catherine di Med
lei and other medieval royalties-so
we are told by the head chemist of
perfume laboratory here.
Queen GATHERINGS official perfumer
held many secrets of most secret
business. but he could learn things
from modern perfumers, if the art was
not still secret and mysterious one.
Many of the laboratories in which per-
fumes are concocted admit no visit
ors, but a big factory to family"
plant here agreed to show the reporter
through its perfume section.
The head chemist of the department
led the way through 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 ess
! ences, and long before quantities OF
| any perfume can be mixed, the form
! ula must be painstakingly evolved in
| the laboratory by a master perfumer
| This is where the most important
secrets of the business are guarded
| A formula for a successful or promis
/ ing perfume is as valuable as a state
| paper. II other firms should learr
| the ingredients and proportions of the
! formula, the work of many Laboratory
experiments necessary to produce i
would be loss.
The master perfumer is an artist
often temperamental one. He sit:
! among his walls, test tubes and bits o
cotton soaked in mixtures of scent
always mixing and shifting for. tn
elusive combination that will be new
and at the same time appealing II
some way-suggestiv of fresh sum
mer fields, of the subtle, languorou
orient, or of the old-fashioned garden
When he gets it-and he may Worl
for months with some troublesom
yet fascinating problem-he feels tina
he has given the world a work of art
Over here the master perfumer get
!, less recognition than he does il
Europe. In Paris. his production
bear his name and he is regarded wit
the same respect as the creators O
! beautiful clothes. In this country III
manufacturing firm takes the lime
nh h
no less a master, but he remains ur
known.
The Raw Materials
In one corner of the perfume de
partment of this plant, is the stee
door of a vault The head chemis
swung open the heavy door an
stepped into a fairly large room. Here
! he explained, are stored quarter {
a million dollars worth of the impor
ed ingredients which go to make fin
perfumes Shelves and tables ar
loaded with large glass bottles, can
/, with Chinese labels, foreign lookin
kettles and canisters, and great ston
. crooks.
Turning on the lights. the chemis
went the round of the shelves, show
, ing how different natural essence
look when they are shipped from tn
, foreign manufacturers, before they ar
, refined, and also allowing the visitc
the interesting if not always delec
able privilege of smelling the heavil
concentrated odors.
: Violet, for example. when importe
q from southern France. is greenisl
= lardlike mass. The essence has bee
4 extracted overseas by pouring larg
$ quantities of petals into a mixture
: melted beef suet and purified lar
d This is stirred with wooden padd
and allowed to stand several days u
# til the fat has absorbed the flower
! fragrance Then the mass is straine
= and cooled until it congeals.
n Eagerly you bend over the jar
+ greenish stuff when the top is LITE
. expecting to catch a heavenly viii
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