Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-07-27
BACKGROUND OF EVENTS
BY PAUL y. COLLINS.

pregnated with carmine seed to color
the skin redder than drug store sun
tam, iron stays, hoops, high-heeled
shoes and bolstered hips, shall incur
the penalty of the law now in force
against witchcraft and like INSIDE
meanors, and that the marriage, upon
conviction. shall be null and void"
The bill was eventually laid upon the
table, but its introduction demonstrates
that scents" may be dangerous to I'M
sophisticated men who might be trapped
unawares. There were flappers in those
days, too.
At that time, and earlier, the max
ing of perfumes was not limited to the
use of flowers. There were polecats-
known politely as civet cats-which were
bred and confined expressly for the
perfume they produced and 1t was a.
plenty! The perfumer to Queen Anne
was Mr.. William Bailey, who kept a
perfumer's shoppe at the sign Of aye
Olde Civet Cat" A rival used picture
Of a polecat on his business card.
Beau Brummell, the arbiter of style
use perfumes. but should send his linen
to be washed and dried on Hampstead
Heath" He had no authority, how
ever, over the ladies who favored pole
cat odor. That's what Hamlet referred
to In his remark about Denmark.
*** x
1t is impossible to trace the origin of
the use of perfumes, for 1t antedates
history. In the earliest records of the
Bible its use is directed, and 1t Is as
ISOLATED with sweet savours' burned
at the affairs as incense-a sweet SAVIOUR
to God" The word perfume" is de-
rived from the French "fume," mean
ing smoke, and par" meaning by
or through" hence by smoke"-"par-
fume." Yet French flappers smoke less
than do the English, which seems mex
plicable until one finds in the Standard
Dictionary that a synonym of fume is
"bluster," though still the connection
appears strained like the gentle dew
from Heaven.
In ancient times, It had specific use
in the etiquette Of social customs. The
head Of an honored guest was anointed
with SWeet-Smelling oil. The heads of
kings when crowned were anointed
with it, as a token that they were
honored by the high rank. The greatest
token of alteration possible to the out
cast woman at the feet of Jesus was her
breaking the alabaster box Of precious
perfume over His feet.
To this day, the peculiar odor asSo-
ciated with the memory of some friend
some perfumery that the friend had
been wont to use now waited to the
nostrils-iS more emotion stirring than
the sight of the departed ones portrait
AS Kipling has said: Scents are surer
than sounds or sights to make your
heartstrings crack"
Some one has described the two
marks Of superiority of man over al
other animals; it is his tongue and his
thumb. But there are animals anc
lower races of mankind which are
keener than civilized man in the identi-
| f1cation Of scents. Witness the blood
hound in following the scent of its prey
though hours have elapsed since the
passage. There are Ethiopia races anc
Indians who have the same keenness
| OF smell and who can trail q fugitive
days after his flight through woods OF
| across prairies.
And now for the last hundred years
| men have learned how to make syn
thetic perfumes and the day of the
civet cat, the rose, mignonette and vio-
let is passing. Every dog has had Its
day, SO why not the cat, the musk
deer and the whale with its precious
ambergris?
Some day, we shall have no other
use for coal mines, when we warm our
homes and run our machinery with the
heat Of direct sunlight, but from the
coal SCOT floating in the air even rs
now. we may still perfume our hand
kerchiefs and scent our baths and make
ourselves attractive. ALI things have
their uses-synthetically.
(copyright, 1929. BY Paul v. collins.l :