DRY-PERFUMES.
As a matter of course, dry perfumes are of greater antiquity than
fluid; aromatic substances require merely to be dried in order to
retain their fragrance permanently. The oldest civilized people known
in history—Egyptians, Assyrians, Persians, Babylonians, and the Jews,
as numerous passages in the Bible prove—used dried portions of plants,
leaves, flowers, and resins as perfumes and incense.
To this day there is kept up quite a trade in Valeriana celtica, a
strong-scented Alpine plant, and in powdered amber, with the Orient,
where they are used for scent bags and incense respectively. The
Catholic Church retains to the present time the Jewish rite of
burning incense, and in our museums will be found urns, taken from
Egyptian graves, from which pleasant odors escape even now after
nearly four thousand years, owing to the aromatic resins with which
they are filled. It is said, too, that the delightful volatile odors
of our handkerchief perfumes were first prepared by an Italian named
Frangipanni conceiving the idea of treating a dry mixture of different
aromatic plants with alcohol and thus imparting the odor they contained
to the latter.
Not all aromatics can be made into sachet powders; it is well known
that the delightful odor of violets changes into a positively
disagreeable smell when the flowers are dried, and the same remark
applies to the blossoms of the lily of the valley, mignonette, lily,
and most of our fragrant plants. On the other hand, some portions of
plants, especially those in which the odorous principle is contained
not only in the flower but in all parts of the plant, as in the mints,
sage, and most Labiatæ, remain fragrant for a long time after drying
and hence can be employed for sachets. Besides the plants named,
lavender, rose leaves, the leaves of the lemon and orange tree, Acacia
farnesiana, patchouly herb, and some other plants continue fragrant
after drying.
Any vegetable substance to be used for sachets must be completely dried
so as to prevent mould. The drying should be effected in a warm, shady
place, sometimes in heated chambers; direct sunlight and excessive
heat injure the strength of the odor, a portion of the aromatics
becoming resinified and volatilized. If artificial heat is employed, a
temperature between 40 and 45° C. (104-113° F.) is most suitable.
The external form of this class of preparations varies of course with
the public for which it is intended. Expensive sachets are sold in silk
bags with different ornamentation; those intended for the Orient are
generally put up as small silk cushions richly ornamented with gold
and colors to suit Oriental taste. Cheap sachets are sold in envelopes
or in round boxes. It is customary to have the ingredients ground or
finely powdered, for which purpose small hand-mills will generally
suffice.