Evening star., 1937-11-05

ingredients, experimenting and en-
deavoring to perfect this art to please
the fastidious and speed romance on
its way.
The art Of perfume making Is
very old art indeed. When the tomb
Of the Egyptian King, Tut-ankh-amen,
was opened after 5000 years, archeolo-
gists discovered number of jars and
vases which still retained the fra
grance of the perfumes they once con-
tained. The Greeks put in word
for it, too. In fact, Greek men used
perfumes in such excess that Solon,
lawgiver of the time, finally tabooed
the sale of perfumed oils to the men
of Athens, and bootlegging them be-
came profitable practice.
Washington has been privileged this
week to gain better understanding
of the story of perfume through an
unusual exhibit in one of the local
stores. whose most conspicuous win
dows have been devoted to various
phases OF the history and production
Of perfume The exhibit consists of
hundreds of unusual and interesting
items collected by the oldest perfume
house during the 161 years Of its ex-
istence.
THE exhibit appeals to the lover of
history and the connoisseur of
rare objects, as it contains many per-
fume bottles, makeup cases and COM
pacts used and treasured by Nine.
Du Barry and other notable persons.
1t appeals to the young modern be-
cause all of the exhibits have been
presented with modern touch created
by the artist famous for such spec
tacles as the Melody" scene from
THE Great Ziegfeld" Many thou
sands of dollars have gone into the
collection and presentation of this
material, which was started way back
in TITS by the original founder of
this famous perfume house.
Being fond of the modern trend
in art, was intrigued by the fantasy
shown in the dramatization of lilac
time and lilac perfume, in a window
display depicting young woman in
white on a fairylike white bench that
swoops off into a huge white wing
at one end, suggestive of the thoughts
of youth soaring in a day dream.
Everywhere are stylized lilacs made
of stiff ribbons of shiny composition
material. Against the lilac curtain,
which serves as back drop for the
snow maiden, is a white wire lilac
bush, flattened out into a mere thin
lacey silhouette.
But the display that seemed to re-
ceive the most continuously crowded
attention was devoted entirely to the
various materials that 90 into the
making Of perfume-the laboratory
end of it. Here was an exhibit that
looked like an apothecary's shop with
| its shelves of labeled bottles, its
its samples of sandal wood and am
| bergris.
| Surely romance hovers about the
manufacture of perfume. There are
the fields of flowers to be gathered
| by the peasants, then the extraction
of the essential oils, so littls of which
can be pressed out of great quantities
of flowers. This oil has to be dis
titled and there is special apparatus
for that. Only the best and most
expensive perfumes made on a basis
of essential oils have lasting qualities
when applied to the skin, and a fra
GRANGE that fingers.
| X X
IN ORDER to hold the fragrance a
"flxatif" must be used. This in
gredient is obtained from several
sources, and in itself is neither lovely
nor sweet smelling. Some of it is
secured from the civet cat found in
Ethiopia, where it takes native trap
per year or two to procure enough to
fill one buffalo's horn, or about quart.
Musk from the deer of Thibet, is also
used and oakmoss from the Black For
est, together with ambergris, that