PERFUMES
AND THEIR PREPARATION.
CONTAINING
COMPLETE DIRECTIONS FOR MAKING HANDKERCHIEF PERFUMES,
SMELLING-SALTS, SACHETS, FUMIGATING PASTILS; PREPARATIONS
FOR THE CARE OF THE SKIN, THE MOUTH,
THE HAIR; COSMETICS, HAIR DYES, AND
OTHER TOILET ARTICLES.
WITH A
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF AROMATIC SUBSTANCES; THEIR
NATURE, TESTS OF PURITY, AND WHOLESALE
MANUFACTURE.
BY
GEORGE WILLIAM ASKINSON, DR. CHEM.,
MANUFACTURER OF PERFUMERY.
TRANSLATED FROM THE THIRD GERMAN EDITION BY
ISIDOR FURST.
(WITH CORRECTIONS AND ADDITIONS BY SEVERAL EXPERTS.)
Illustrated with 32 Engravings.
NEW YORK:
N. W. HENLEY & CO.,
150 NASSAU ST.
LONDON:
E. & F. N. SPON,
125, STRAND.
1892.
COPYRIGHTED, 1892,
BY
NORMAN W. HENLEY & CO.
PREFACE.
The great progress which the art of perfumery has made during recent
times is due to several causes, the chief one of which is fully
realized only by the manufacturer on a large scale, who stands, as
it were, behind the scenes and has access to facts and information
concerning the materials he uses, which are not so easily accessible
to the dilettante in perfumery, or remain altogether unknown to the
latter. This important factor is the advance in our knowledge of the
physical and chemical properties of the several substances used in
perfumery, whereby we can better discriminate between the genuine
and the spurious, the choicest and the inferior, thus insuring, at
the very start, a satisfactory result, instead of being compelled to
resort to wasteful experimentation and empiricism. A better knowledge
has also been gained of the sources of the commercial varieties of
many of the crude products, and a better insight into the conditions
affecting their qualities or properties. A more exhaustive study of
the proximate principles of many of the essential oils has thrown
an entirely new light upon this heretofore obscure class of bodies,
placing into our hands new products of definite chemical composition,
unvarying in physical properties, and many of them valuable additions
to the perfumer’s stock of ingredients. Synthetic chemistry has also
added to the list of materials required by the perfumer, and is surely
going to add many more to it hereafter. Though some of these, like
the new artificial musk, are not yet in a condition to enter into
serious competition with the natural products, yet it is merely a
question of time when the latter need no longer be depended upon. The
increasing demands for the staple articles used by the perfumer have
also caused a large increase in the cultivation of many important
plants in various parts of the world, and have led to the establishment
of new plantations, in some cases to such an extent that the commercial
relations have been entirely revolutionized, new territories producing
larger crops and a finer product than the old home of the plant. The
exploration of hitherto unknown or imperfectly known countries has
also largely added to the perfumer’s art, and is likely to continue to
do this for a long time to come, since it is now well known that vast
districts, more particularly in tropical Africa, are inhabited by a
flora abounding in new odoriferous plants.
In spite of all this expansion of the perfumer’s stock of trade,
however, which results in the periodical introduction of new compounds,
there is a very large number of popular odorous mixtures which remain
in steady demand, having taken such firm root among civilized nations
that they are not likely to be displaced. It is more particularly with
a view to afford information regarding these latter that a work like
the present is desirable and necessary. A treatise on perfumery is
expected to place into the hands of the purchaser reasonably reliable
processes for preparing the most generally approved simple or compound
perfumes, as well as accurate information concerning the origin and
properties of the various ingredients, together with practical hints
regarding the determination of their genuineness and purity.
It is a frequent complaint of those who make preparations after
formulas published in works like the present, that they do not
succeed in obtaining fully satisfactory products. Another complaint
of purchasers of such works is this: that they fail to find formulas
yielding preparations identical in every respect with certain
celebrated perfumes which have made the reputation and fortune of
certain firms. Regarding the first complaint, we would say that
the failure lies generally with the complainant himself, through
carelessness in the selection of the materials or disregard of
the given directions. Concerning the second complaint, a moment’s
reflection must convince any one that formulas which are the result
of the study and experimentation of years, and the products of which
are the main stock of trade of certain firms, are carefully guarded,
and not likely to be communicated to others. Moreover, in many cases
even a publication of the component parts would not be of much avail,
for the manufacturer on the large scale has facilities for blending
and seasoning his products which the maker on a small scale does not
possess, and it is this part of the art particularly upon which the
quality of the products depends.
In preparing the present treatise for the American public many changes
were found necessary in the original text, in order to make the
information given more correct or definite, and so bring the work more
abreast of the present time. In addition to various improvements and
additions made in the working formulas comprising the second portion of
the work, the description of the natural products used as ingredients,
upon the quality and selection of which the success of the perfumer
mostly depends, has been carefully revised, and so far as the objects
of this work required, completed by Dr. Charles Rice, Associate Editor
of _American Druggist_, etc., in consultation with several experts in
the art of perfumery.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I. PAGE
The History of Perfumery 1
CHAPTER II.
About Aromatic Substances in General 6
CHAPTER III.
Odors from the Vegetable Kingdom 13
CHAPTER IV.
The Aromatic Vegetable Substances Employed in Perfumery 20
CHAPTER V.
The Animal Substances Used in Perfumery 57
CHAPTER VI.
The Chemical Products Used in Perfumery 63
A. Chemicals Used for the Extraction of Aromatic Substances 64
B. Chemical Products Used for the Preparation of Perfumes 68
C. The Colors Used in Perfumery 87
CHAPTER VII.
The Extraction of Odors 87
CHAPTER VIII.
The Special Characteristics of Aromatic Substances 118
CHAPTER IX.
The Adulteration of Essential Oils and their Recognition 139
CHAPTER X.
The Essences or Extracts Employed in Perfumery 146
CHAPTER XI.
Directions for Making the Most Important Essences and Extracts 150
CHAPTER XII.
The Division of Perfumery 166
CHAPTER XIII.
The Manufacture of Handkerchief Perfumes, Bouquets, or Aromatic
Waters 167
CHAPTER XIV.
Formulas for Handkerchief Perfumes 169
CHAPTER XV.
Ammoniacal and Acid Perfumes 199
CHAPTER XVI.
Dry Perfumes 207
CHAPTER XVII.
Formulas for Dry Perfumes (Sachets) 209
CHAPTER XVIII.
The Perfumes Used for Fumigation 214
CHAPTER XIX.
Hygienic and Cosmetic Perfumery 225
CHAPTER XX.
Preparations for the Care of the Skin 227
CHAPTER XXI.
Formulas for the Preparation of Emulsions, Meals, Pastes,
Vegetable Milk, and Cold-Creams 230
CHAPTER XXII.
The Preparations Used for the Care of the Hair
(Pomades and Hair Oils) 245
CHAPTER XXIII.
Formulas for the Manufacture of Pomades and Hair Oils 247
CHAPTER XXIV.
Preparations for the Care of the Mouth 257
CHAPTER XXV.
Cosmetic Perfumery 269
CHAPTER XXVI.
Skin Cosmetics and Face Lotions 270
CHAPTER XXVII.
Hair Cosmetics 280
CHAPTER XXVIII.
Hair Dyes and Depilatories 285
CHAPTER XXIX.
Wax Pomades, Bandolines, and Brillantines 294
CHAPTER XXX.
The Colors Used in Perfumery 297
CHAPTER XXXI.
The Utensils Used in the Toilet 301
PERFUMES AND THEIR PREPARATION.
CHAPTER I.
THE HISTORY OF PERFUMERY.
The gratification of his senses is peculiar to man, and it is to this
trait that we are indebted for all the arts. The activities which
aimed at the gratification of the eye and ear developed into the
creative arts and music, and in like manner human endeavor directed
toward the stimulation of the sense of smell has in our time assumed
the proportions both of an art and a science; for it was nothing but
the advancement of chemistry that made it possible to fix all the
pleasant odors offered by nature and to create new perfumes by the
artistic combination of these scents. The preparation of perfumes is a
very ancient art that is met with among all peoples possessed of any
degree of civilization. It is particularly the ancient nations of the
Orient which had in truth become masters in the manufacture of numerous
perfumes.
The first perfume was the fragrant flower; it has continued to be so
to the present day: the sprig of dried lavender flowers which we lay
in the clothes-press was probably used for the same purpose by the
contemporaries of Aristotle. In the Orient, which we may look upon as
the cradle of the art of perfumery, the idea suggested itself early to
substitute for the delicious fragrance of the flowers some substances
of lasting odor; various sweet-scented resins supplied the material
for this purpose. The use of these aromatic resins must have been
very extensive: the ancient Egyptians alone consumed extraordinary
quantities for embalming their dead. How highly the Oriental peoples
in general prized perfumes can be learned from the Bible: the Jews
(like the Catholics to the present day) employed an aromatic gum-resin
(olibanum, frankincense) in their religious ceremonies; in the Song of
Solomon mention is made of Indian perfumes, for instance, cinnamon,
spikenard, myrrh, and aloes.
Altogether, incense played a prominent part in the religious ceremonies
of the ancient Western Asiatic nations—among many peoples under a
theocratic government it was even believed to be sinful to use incense
for other than religious purposes. The Bible teaches us that Ezekiel
and Isaiah protested against it, and that Moses even prescribed the
preparation of certain kinds of incense for use in the tabernacle.
Among the most highly civilized people of antiquity, the Greeks, a
large number of fragrant substances, as well as oils perfumed with
them—that is to say, perfumes in the same sense as we still understand
the term—was known; this will be no surprise to those familiar with the
culture of this remarkable people. The odor of violets was the favorite
among the Greeks; besides this they used the scent of the different
mints, thyme, marjoram, and other aromatic plants. This was carried
so far as to become a matter of fashion for the Greek fop to use only
certain odors in the form of ointments for the hair, others for the
neck, etc. In order to prevent this luxury which was carried to such
an excess, Solon even promulgated a law that interdicted the sale of
fragrant oils to Athenian men (the law did not apply to the women).
The Romans, who were the pupils of the Greeks in all the arts, carried
the luxury with perfumes perhaps even farther. In ancient Rome there
was a very numerous guild of perfumers called _unguentarii_; they
are said to have had a street to themselves in Capua. A Patrician
Roman anointed himself three times daily with precious, sweet-scented
oils which he personally took along into his bath in golden vessels
of exquisite workmanship, so-called nartheciæ. At the funeral of
his wife Poppæa, Nero is said to have used as incense more odorous
substances than could be produced in one year in Arabia, at that time
the only reputed source of perfumes. This luxury went so far that
during the games in the open amphitheatres the whole air was filled
with sweet odors ascending from numerous censers arranged in a circle.
The apartments of well-to-do Romans always contained large and very
valuable urns filled with dried blossoms, to keep the air permanently
perfumed.
Roman extravagance with perfumes was carried to such an excess that
under the consulate of Licinius Crassus a law was passed which
restricted the use of perfumery, there being good reason to fear that
there would not be enough for the ceremonies in the temples.
With the migration of the almost savage Huns and Goths, the refinement
of morals ceased, progress in civilization was retarded for centuries,
and at the same time the use of perfumes disappeared entirely in
Europe; but it was otherwise in the Orient. As an instance we may
mention the prophecy of Mohammed, who promised in the Koran to the
faithful in paradise the possession of black-eyed houries whose bodies
were composed of the purest musk.
The Arabs, the ancient masters of chemistry, were also the first
founders of the art of perfumery. Thus the Arabian physician Avicenna,
in the tenth century, taught the art of preparing fragrant waters from
leaves, and Sultan Saladin, in 1157, on his triumphal entry, had the
walls of the mosque of Omar washed with rose water.
It was the intercourse with the Orient brought about by the Crusades
that made Europeans again more familiar with the art of perfumery, and
a number of new odors rapidly became known. Italy and France, in those
times the representatives of culture, were the countries in which the
preparation of perfumes was carried on on a large scale. Thus, for
instance, we find the name of a Roman family preserved to the present
day because one of its members had combined a sweet-scented powder,
called Frangipanni after its inventor, which is still in favor, and
because his grandson Mauritius Frangipanni had made the important
discovery that by treating this powder with spirit of wine the fragrant
substance could be obtained in a fluid form.
The fact has been frequently related and repeated, that Catherine de
Medici, the wife of Henry II., had made use of the fashion of perfuming
the body for the purpose of ridding herself of objectionable persons,
by giving them scented gloves prepared and at the same time poisoned by
a Florentine named René (Renato?). We think this tale to be simply a
hair-raising fable—modern chemistry knows no substance the mere touch
of which could produce the effect of a fatal poison; and it is scarcely
credible that such a material had been known at that time and lost
sight of since.
In the sixteenth century, especially at the court of Queen Elizabeth,
perfumes were used with great extravagance; in fact, were looked upon
as one of the necessaries of life. This luxury was carried still
farther at the courts of the sumptuous kings of France; Louis XV. went
so far as to demand every day a different odor for his apartments. A
lady’s lover always used the same kind of perfume she did.
It is well known that among the Oriental nations perfumes are used so
largely that even food is flavored with rose water, musk, etc.; and
Indian and Chinese goods always possess a peculiar aroma which is so
characteristic for certain products that it was considered to be a sign
of genuineness; this was the case, for instance, with the patchouly
odor which always adheres to Indian shawls.
A shawl-maker of Lyons, who had succeeded in perfectly imitating Indian
shawls with reference to design and colors, spent a fabulous sum to
obtain possession of the plant used by the Indian weavers for perfuming
their wares. Despite the great outlay caused by the search for this
plant, the manufacturer is said to have done a flourishing business
with his “genuine” Indian shawls.
In more recent times the great extension of trade to the farthest
countries of the globe, and still more the progress of chemistry, have
made us familiar with a number of new perfumes. More than two hundred
different aromatic substances are now known, and still they are far
from being exhausted; every year new odoriferous plants become known,
from which the chemist extracts perfumes. By this means, as well as by
the enormous employment of perfumes in all grades of society, the art
of their preparation has risen to a higher plane; out of empiricism,
which alone prevailed a few decades ago, into the domain of the
chemical sciences.
Since the appearance of the last edition of this book, the art of
perfumery has made noteworthy progress both with reference to the
knowledge of new aromatic substances and to improvement in the
methods of their preparation; by the introduction of glycerin, solid
and liquid vaselin, and salicylic acid into perfumery, one of its
branches—hygienic cosmetics—has made an important advance.
At present it is particularly France and England whose perfumery
industry is most extensive and which to some extent rule the markets of
the world; southern France and Algiers especially furnish the best raw
materials, the finest essential oils for the manufacture of perfumes at
the chief centres, Paris and London.