Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
https://www.pgdp.net.
Transcriber's note: Footnotes moved to end of text
The Art
OF
PERFUMERY,
AND METHOD OF OBTAINING
THE ODORS OF PLANTS.
[Illustration: DRYING HOUSE FOR HERBS.]
From the rafters of the roof of the Drying House are suspended in
bunches all the herbs that the grower cultivates. To accelerate the
desiccation of rose leaves and other petals, the Drying House is fitted
up with large cupboards, which are slightly warmed with a convolving
flue, heated from a fire below.
The flower buds are placed upon trays made of canvas stretched upon a
frame rack, being not less than twelve feet long by four feet wide. When
charged they are placed on shelves in the warm cupboards till dry.
THE ART OF PERFUMERY,
AND METHOD OF OBTAINING THE ODORS OF PLANTS,
WITH INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF PERFUMES FOR THE HANDKERCHIEF,
SCENTED POWDERS, ODOROUS VINEGARS, DENTIFRICES, POMATUMS, COSMETIQUES,
PERFUMED SOAP, ETC.
WITH AN APPENDIX ON THE COLORS OF FLOWERS, ARTIFICIAL FRUIT ESSENCES,
ETC. ETC.
[Illustration]
BY G.W. SEPTIMUS PIESSE,
AUTHOR OF THE "ODORS OF FLOWERS," ETC. ETC.
* * * * *
PHILADELPHIA:
LINDSAY AND BLAKISTON.
1857.
PRINTED BY C. SHERMAN & SON,
19 St. James Street.
Preface.
By universal consent, the physical faculties of man have been divided
into five senses,--seeing, hearing, touching, tasting, and smelling. It
is of matter pertaining to the faculty of Smelling that this book mainly
treats. Of the five senses, that of smelling is the least valued, and,
as a consequence, is the least tutored; but we must not conclude from
this, our own act, that it is of insignificant importance to our welfare
and happiness.
By neglecting to tutor the olfactory nerve, we are constantly led to
breathe impure air, and thus poison the body by neglecting the warning
given at the gate of the lungs. Persons who use perfumes are more
sensitive to the presence of a vitiated atmosphere than those who
consider the faculty of smelling as an almost useless gift.
In the early ages of the world the use of perfumes was in constant
practice, and it had the high sanction of Scriptural authority.
The patrons of perfumery have always been considered the most civilized
and refined people of the earth. If refinement consists in knowing how
to enjoy the faculties which we possess, then must we learn not only how
to distinguish the harmony of color and form, in order to please the
sight, the melody of sweet sounds to delight the ear; the comfort of
appropriate fabrics to cover the body, and to please the touch, but the
smelling faculty must be shown how to gratify itself with the
odoriferous products of the garden and the forest.
Pathologically considered, the use of perfumes is in the highest degree
prophylactic; the refreshing qualities of the citrine odors to an
invalid is well known. Health has often been restored when life and
death trembled in the balance, by the mere sprinkling of essence of
cedrat in a sick chamber.
The commercial value of flowers is of no mean importance to the wealth
of nations. But, vast as is the consumption of perfumes by the people
under the rule of the British Empire, little has been done in England
towards the establishment of flower-farms, or the production of the raw
odorous substances in demand by the manufacturing perfumers of Britain;
consequently nearly the whole are the produce of foreign countries.
However, I have every hope that ere long the subject will attract the
attention of the Society of Arts, and favorable results will doubtless
follow. Much of the waste land in England, and especially in Ireland,
could be very profitably employed if cultivated with odor-bearing
plants.
The climate of some of the British colonies especially fits them for the
production of odors from flowers that require elevated temperature to
bring them to perfection.
But for the lamented death of Mr. Charles Piesse,[A] Colonial Secretary
for Western Australia, I have every reason to believe that flower-farms
would have been established in that colony long ere the publication of
this work. Though thus personally frustrated in adapting a new and
useful description of labor to British enterprise, I am no less sanguine
of the final result in other hands.
Mr. Kemble, of Jamaica, has recently sent to England some fine samples
of Oil of Behn. The Moringa, from which it is produced, has been
successfully cultivated by him. The Oil of Behn, being a perfectly
inodorous fat oil, is a valuable agent for extracting the odors of
flowers by the maceration process.
At no distant period I hope to see, either at the Crystal Palace,
Sydenham, at the Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew, or elsewhere, a place to
illustrate the commercial use of flowers--eye-lectures on the methods of
obtaining the odors of plants and their various uses. The
horticulturists of England, being generally unacquainted with the
methods of economizing the scents from the flowers they cultivate,
entirely lose what would be a very profitable source of income. For many
ages copper ore was thrown over the cliffs into the sea by the Cornish
miners working the tin streams; how much wealth was thus cast away by
ignorance we know not, but there is a perfect parallel between the old
miners and the modern gardeners.
Many readers of the "Gardeners' Chronicle" and of the "Annals of
Pharmacy and Chemistry" will recognize in the following pages much
matter that has already passed under their eyes.
To be of the service intended, such matter must however have a book
form; I have therefore collected from the above-mentioned periodicals
all that I considered might be useful to the reader.
To Sir Wm. Hooker, Dr. Lindley, Mr. W. Dickinson, and Mr. W. Bastick, I
respectfully tender my thanks for the assistance they have so freely
given whenever I have had occasion to seek their advice.
Contents.
PREFACE
SECTION I.
INTRODUCTION AND HISTORY.
Perfumes in use from the Earliest Periods--Origin lost in the Depth of
its Antiquity--Possibly derived from Religious Observances--Incense or
Frankincense burned in Honor of the Divinities--Early Christians put to
Death for refusing to offer Incense to Idols--Use of perfumes by the
Greeks and Romans--Pliny and Seneca observe that some of the luxurious
People scent themselves Three Times a Day--Use of Incense in the Romish
Church--Scriptural Authority for the use of Perfume--Composition of the
Holy Perfume--The Prophet's Simile--St. Ephræm's Will--Fragrant
Tapers--Constantine provides fragrant Oil to burn at the
Altars--Frangipanni--Trade in the East in Perfume Drugs--The Art of
Perfumery of little Distinction in England--Solly's admirable Remarks on
Trade Secrets--British Horticulturists neglect to collect the Fragrance
of the Flowers they cultivate--The South of France the principal Seat of
the Art--England noted for Lavender--Some Plants yield more than one
Perfume--Odor of Plants owing to a peculiar Principle known as Essential
Oil or Otto
SECTION II.
Consumption of Perfumery--Methods of obtaining the Odors:--Expression,
Distillation, Maceration, Absorption
SECTION III.
Steam-Still--Macerating Pan--Ottos exhibited at the Crystal Palace of
1851--SIMPLE EXTRACTS:--Allspice, Almond, Artificial Otto of
Almonds, Anise, Balm, Balsams, Bay, Bergamot, Benzoin, Caraway,
Cascarilla, Cassia, Cassie, Cedar, Cedrat, Cinnamon, Citron, Citronella,
Clove, Dill, Eglantine or Sweet Brier, Elder, Fennel, Flag, Geranium,
Heliotrope, Honeysuckle, Hovenia, Jasmine, Jonquil, Laurel, Lavender,
Lemon-grass, Lilac, Lily, Mace, Magnolia, Marjoram, Meadow-sweet,
Melissa, Mignonette, Miribane, Mint, Myrtle, Neroli, Nutmeg, Olibanum,
Orange, Orris, Palm, Patchouly, Sweet Pea (Theory of Odors), Pineapple,
Pink, Rhodium (Rose yields two Odors), Rosemary, Sage, Santal,
Sassafras, Spike, Storax, Syringa, Thyme, Tonquin, Tuberose, Vanilla,
Verbena or Vervain, Violet, Vitivert, Volkameria, Wallflower,
Winter-green--Duty on Essential Oils--Quantity imported--Statistics,
&c.
SECTION IV.
ANIMAL PERFUMES.
Ambergris--Civet--Musk
SECTION V.
SMELLING SALTS:--Ammonia, Preston Salts, Inexhaustible Salts,
Eau de Luce, Sal Volatile
ACETIC ACID AND ITS USE IN PERFUMERY.--Aromatic Vinegar,
Henry's Vinegar, Vinaigre à la Rose, Four Thieves' Vinegar, Hygienic
Vinegar, Violet Vinegar, Toilet Vinegar, Vinaigre de Cologne
SECTION VI.
BOUQUETS AND NOSEGAYS.
Proposed Use of the Term "Otto" to denote the odoriferous Principle of
Plants
COMPOUND ODORS:--The Alhambra Perfume--The Bosphorus
Bouquet--Bouquet d'Amour--Bouquet des Fleurs du Val
d'Andorre--Buckingham Palace Bouquet--Délices--The Court Nosegay--Eau de
Chypre--The Empress Eugenie's Nosegay--Esterhazy--Ess Bouquet--Eau de
Cologne. (French and English Spirit.) Flowers of Erin--Royal Hunt
Bouquet--Extract of Flowers--The Guards' Bouquet--Italian
Nosegay--English Jockey Club--French Jockey Club. (Difference of the
Odor of English and French Perfumes due to the Spirit of Grape and Corn
Spirit.) A Japanese Perfume--The Kew Garden
Nosegay--Millefleurs--Millefleurs et Lavender--Delcroix's
Lavender--Marechale--Mousselaine--Bouquet de Montpellier--Caprice de la
Mode--May Flowers--Neptune, or Naval Nosegay--Bouquet of all
Nations--Isle of Wight Bouquet--Bouquet du Roi--Bouquet de la Reine
Victoria--Rondeletia. (Odors properly blended produce new Fragrances.)
Bouquet Royal--Suave--Spring Flowers--Tulip Nosegay--The Wood
Violet--Windsor Castle Bouquet--Yacht Club Nosegay
SECTION VII.
The ancient Perfumes were only odoriferous Gums--Abstaining from the Use
of Perfumes a Sign of Humiliation--The Vase at Alnwick Castle--Sachet
Powders--Sachet au Chypre--Sachet à la Frangipanne--Heliotrope
Sachet--Lavender Sachet--Sachet à la
Maréchale--Mousselaine--Millefleur--Portugal Sachet--Patchouly
Sachet--Pot Pourri--Olla Podrida--Rose Sachet--Santal-wood
Sachet--Sachet (without a name)--Vervain Sachet--Vitivert--Violet
Sachet--Perfumed Leather--Russia Leather--Peau d'Espagne--Perfumed
Letter Paper--Perfumed Book-markers--Cassolettes, and Printaniers
Pastils--The Censer--Vase in the British Museum--Method of using the
Censer--Incense for Altar Service--Yellow Pastils--Dr. Paris's
Pastils--Perfumer's Pastils--Piesse's Pastils--Fumigation--The Perfume
Lamp--Incandescent Platinum--Eau à Bruler--Eau pour Bruler--Fumigating
Paper--Perfuming Spills--Odoriferous Lighters
SECTION VIII.
PERFUMED SOAP.
Perfumed Soap--Ancient Origin of Soap--Early Records of the Soap Trade
in England--Perfumers not Soap Makers--Remelting--Primary Soaps--Curd
Soap--Oil Soap--Castile Soap--Marine Soap--Yellow Soap--Palm
Soap--Excise Duty on Soap--Fig Soft Soap--Naples Soft Soap--The
remelting Process--Soap cutting--Soap stamping--Scented Soaps
Almond Soap--Camphor Soap--Honey Soap--White Windsor Soap--Brown Windsor
Soap--Sand Soap--Fuller's Earth Soap--Scenting Soaps Hot--Scenting Soaps
Cold--Colored Soaps:--Red, Green, Blue, Brown Soaps--Otto of Rose
Soap--Tonquin Musk Soap--Orange-Flower Soap--Santal-wood
Soap--Spermaceti Soap--Citron Soap--Frangipanne Soap--Patchouly
Soap--Soft or Potash Soaps--Saponaceous Cream of Almonds--Soap
Powders--Rypophagon Soap--Ambrosial Cream--Transparent soft
Soap--Transparent hard Soap--Medicated Soaps--Juniper Tar Soap--Iodine
Soap--Sulphur Soap--Bromine Soap--Creosote Soap--Mercurial Soap--Croton
Oil Soap--Their Use in Cutaneous Diseases
SECTION IX.
EMULSINES.
Form Emulsions or Milks when mixed with Water--Prone to
Change--Amandine--Olivine--Honey and Almond Paste--Pure Almond
Paste--Almond Meal--Pistachio Nut Meal--Jasmine Emulsion--Violet
Emulsion
SECTION X.
MILKS OR EMULSIONS.
Liebig's notice of Almond Milk--Milk of Roses--Milk of Almonds--Milk of
Elder--Milk of Dandelion--Milk of Cucumber--Essence of Cucumber--Milk of
Pistachio Nuts--Lait Virginal--Extract of Elder Flowers
SECTION XI.
COLD CREAM.
Manipulation--Cold Cream of Almonds--Violet Cold Cream--Imitation Violet
Cold Cream--Cold Cream of various Flowers--Camphor Cold Cream--Cucumber
Cold Cream--Piver's Pomade of Cucumber--Pomade Divine--Almond
Balls--Camphor Balls--Camphor Paste--Glycerine Balsam--Rose Lip
Salve--White Lip Salve--Common Lip Salve
SECTION XII.
POMADES AND OILS.
Pomatum, as its name implies, originally made with Apples--Scentless
Grease--Enfleurage and Maceration process--Acacia, or Cassie
Pomade--Benzoin Pomade and Oil--Vanilla Oil and Pomade--Pomade called
Bear's Grease--Circassian Cream--Balsam of Flowers--Crystallized
Oils--Castor Oil Pomatum--Balsam of Neroli--Marrow Cream--Marrow
Pomatum--Violet Pomatum--Pomade Double, Millefleurs--Pomade à la
Heliotrope--Huile Antique--Philocome--Pomade Hongroise--Hard or Stick
Pomatums--Black and Brown Cosmetique
SECTION XIII.
HAIR DYES AND DEPILATORIES.
Painting the Face universal among the Women of Egypt--Kohhl, the Smoke
of Gum Labdanum, used by the Girls of Greece to color the Lashes and
Sockets of the Eye--Turkish Hair Dye--Rastikopetra Dye--Litharge
Dye--Silver Dye--Hair Dyes, with Mordant--Inodorous Dye--Brown and Black
Hair Dye--Liquid Lead Dye--Depilatory, Rusma
SECTION XIV.
ABSORBENT POWDERS.
Violet Powder--Rose Face Powder--Perle Powder--Liquid Blanc for
Theatrical Use--Calcined Talc--Rouge and Red Paints--Bloom of
Roses--Carmine Toilet Rouge--Carthamus Flowers--Pink Saucers--Crépon
Rouge
SECTION XV.
TOOTH POWDERS AND MOUTH WASHES.
Mialhi's Tooth Powder--Camphorated Chalk--Quinine Tooth Powder--Prepared
Charcoal--Peruvian Bark Powder--Homoeopathic Chalk--Cuttle-Fish
Powder--Borax and Myrrh--Farina Piesse's Dentifrice--Rose Tooth
Powder--Opiate Paste--Violet Mouth Wash--Eau Botot--Botanic
Styptic--Tincture of Myrrh and Borax--Myrrh with Eau de
Cologne--Camphorated Eau de Cologne
SECTION XVI.
HAIR WASHES.
Rosemary Hair Wash--Athenian Water--Vegetable or Botanic Hair
Wash--Astringent Extract of Roses and Rosemary--Saponaceous Wash--Egg
Julep--Bandolines--Rose and Almond Bandoline
Contents of Appendix.
Manufacture of Glycerine
Test for Alcohol in Essential Oils
Detection of Poppy and other drying Oils in Almond and Olive Oil
Coloring matter of Volatile Oils
Artificial Preparation of Otto of Cinnamon
Detection of Spike Oil and Turpentine in Lavender Oil
The Orange Flower Waters of Commerce
Concentrated Elder Water
ARNALL on Spirits of Wine
Purification of Spirits by Filtration
COBB on Otto of Lemons
BASTICK on Benzoic Acid
On the Coloring matters of Flowers
Bleaching Bees' Wax
Chemical Examination of Naples Soap
Manufacture of Soap
How to Ascertain the Commercial Value of Soap
On the Natural Fats
Perfumes as Preventives of Mouldiness
BASTICK on Fusel Oil
BASTICK'S Pine Apple Flavor
WAGNER'S Essence of Quince
Preparation of Rum-ether
Artificial Fruit essences
Volatile Oil of Gaultheria
Application of Chemistry to Perfumery
Correspondence from the Journal of the Society of Arts
Quantities of Ottos yielded by various Plants
French and English Weights and Measures compared
Illustrations.
Drying House, Mitcham, Surrey, (Frontispiece.)
Smelling, from the Dresden Gallery, (Vignette.)
Pipette, to draw off small Portions of Otto from Water
Tap Funnel for separating Ottos from Waters, and Spirits from Oil
The Almond
Styrax Benzoin
Cassie Buds
The Clove
The Jasmine
The Orange
The Patchouly Plant
Santal-Wood
Tonquin
Vanilla
Vitivert
Civet Cat
Musk Pod
Musk Deer
The Censer
Perfume Lamp
Slab Soap Gauge
Barring Gauge
Squaring Gauge
Soap Scoops
Soap Press
Moulds
Soap Plane
Oil Runner
THE ART OF PERFUMERY.
INTRODUCTION AND HISTORY.
SECTION I.
"By Nature's swift and secret working hand
The garden glows, and fills the liberal air
With lavish odors.
There let me draw
Ethereal soul, there drink reviving gales,
Profusely breathing from the spicy groves
And vales of fragrance."--THOMSON.
Among the numerous gratifications derived from the cultivation of
flowers, that of rearing them for the sake of their perfumes stands
pre-eminent. It is proved from the oldest records, that perfumes have
been in use from the earliest periods. The origin of this, like that of
many other arts, is lost in the depth of its antiquity; though it had
its rise, no doubt, in religious observances. Among the nations of
antiquity, an offering of perfumes was regarded as a token of the most
profound respect and homage. Incense, or Frankincense, which exudes by
incision and dries as a gum, from _Arbor-thurifera_, was formerly burnt
in the temples of all religions, in honor of the divinities that were
there adored. Many of the primitive Christians were put to death because
they would not offer incense to idols.
"Of the use of these luxuries by the Greeks, and afterwards by the
Romans, Pliny and Seneca gives much information respecting perfume
drugs, the method of collecting them, and the prices at which they
sold. Oils and powder perfumery were most lavishly used, for even
three times a day did some of the luxurious people anoint and
scent themselves, carrying their precious perfumes with them to
the baths in costly and elegant boxes called NARTHECIA."
In the Romish Church incense is used in many ceremonies, and
particularly at the solemn funerals of the hierarchy, and other
personages of exalted rank.
Pliny makes a note of the tree from which frankincense is procured, and
certain passages in his works indicate that dried flowers were used in
his time by way of perfume, and that they were, as now, mixed with
spices, a compound which the modern perfumer calls _pot-pourri_, used
for scenting apartments, and generally placed in some ornamental Vase.
It was not uncommon among the Egyptian ladies to carry about the person
a little pouch of odoriferous gums, as is the case to the present day
among the Chinese, and to wear beads made of scented wood. The
"bdellium" mentioned by Moses in Genesis is a perfuming gum, resembling
frankincense, if not identical with it.
Several passages in Exodus prove the use of perfumes at a very early
period among the Hebrews. In the thirtieth chapter of Exodus the Lord
said unto Moses: "1. And thou shalt make an altar to burn incense upon;
of Shittim wood shalt thou make it." "7. And Aaron shall burn thereon
sweet incense every morning; when he dresseth the lamps he shall burn
incense upon it." "34. Take unto thee sweet spices, stacte, and onycha,
and galbanum; these sweet spices with pure frankincense: of each shall
there be a like weight." "35. And thou shalt make it a perfume, a
confection after the art of the apothecary, tempered together pure and
holy." "36. And thou shalt beat some of it very small, and put of it
before the testimony in the tabernacle of the congregation, where I will
meet with thee; it shall be unto you most holy." "37. And as for the
perfume which thou shalt make, ye shall not make to yourselves according
to the composition thereof; it shall be unto thee holy for the Lord."
"38. Whosoever shall make like unto that to smell thereto, shall even be
cut off from his people."
"It was from this religious custom, of employing incense in the
ancient temples, that the royal prophet drew that beautiful simile
of his, when he petitioned that his prayers might ascend before
the Lord like incense, Luke 1:10. It was while all the multitude
was praying without, at the hour of incense, that there appeared
to Zachary an angel of the Lord, standing on the right side of the
altar of incense. That the nations attached a meaning not only of
personal reverence, but also of religious homage, to an offering
of incense, is demonstrable from the instance of the Magi, who,
having fallen down to adore the new-born Jesus, and recognized his
Divinity, presented Him with gold, myrrh and frankincense. The
primitive Christians imitated the example of the Jews, and adopted
the use of incense at the celebration of the Liturgy. St. Ephræm,
a father of the Syriac Church, directed in his will that no
aromatic perfumes should be bestowed upon him at his funeral, but
that the spices should rather be given to the sanctuary. The use
of incense in all the Oriental churches is perpetual, and almost
daily; nor do any of them ever celebrate their Liturgy without it,
unless compelled by necessity. The Coptic, as well as other
Eastern Christians, observe the same ceremonial as the Latin
Church in incensing their altar, the sacred vessels, and
ecclesiastical personages."--DR. ROCK'S _Hierurgia_.
Perfumes were used in the Church service, not only under the form of
incense, but also mixed in the oil and wax for the lamps and lights
commanded to be burned in the house of the Lord. The brilliancy and
fragrance which were often shed around a martyr's sepulchre, at the
celebration of his festival, by multitudes of lamps and tapers, fed with
aromatics, have been noticed by St. Paulinus:--
"With crowded lamps are these bright altars crowned,
And waxen tapers, shedding perfume round
From fragrant wicks, beam calm a scented ray,
To gladden night, and joy e'en radiant day."
DR. ROCK'S _Hierurgia_.
Constantine the Great provided fragrant oils, to be burned at the altars
of the greater churches in Rome; and St. Paulinus, of Nola, a writer of
the end of the fourth and beginning of the fifth century, tells us how,
in his times, wax tapers were made for church use, so as to shed
fragrance as they burned:--
"Lumina cerates adolentur odora papyris."
A perfume in common use, even to this day, was the invention of one of
the earliest of the Roman nobles, named Frangipani, and still bears his
name; it is a powder, or sachet, composed of every known spice, in equal
proportions, to which is added ground iris or orris root, in weight
equal to the whole, with one per cent. of musk or civet. A liquid of the
same name, invented by his grandson Mercutio Frangipani, is also in
common use, prepared by digesting the Frangipane powder in rectified
spirits, which dissolves out the fragrant principles. This has the merit
of being the most lasting perfume made.
"The trade for the East in perfume-drugs caused many a vessel to
spread its sails to the Red Sea, and many a camel to plod over
that tract which gave to Greece and Syria their importance as
markets, and vitality to the rocky city of Petra. Southern Italy
was not long ere it occupied itself in ministering to the luxury
of the wealthy, by manufacturing scented unguents and perfumes. So
numerous were the UNGUENTARII, or perfumers, that they
are said to have filled the great street of ancient
Capua."--HOFMANN.
As an art, in England, perfumery has attained little or no distinction.
This has arisen from those who follow it as a trade, maintaining a
mysterious secrecy about their processes. No manufacture can ever become
great or important to the community that is carried on under a veil of
mystery.
"On the subject of trade mystery I will only observe, that I am
convinced that it would be far more to the interest of
manufacturers if they were more willing to profit by the
experience of others, and less fearful and jealous of the supposed
secrets of their craft. It is a great mistake to think that a
successful manufacturer is one who has carefully preserved the
secrets of his trade, or that peculiar modes of effecting simple
things, processes unknown in other factories, and mysteries beyond
the comprehension of the vulgar, are in any way essential to skill
as a manufacturer, or to success as a trader."--PROFESSOR
SOLLY.
If the horticulturists of England were instructed how to collect the
odors of flowers, a new branch of manufacture would spring up to vie
with our neighbors' skill in it across the Channel.
Of our five senses, that of SMELLING has been treated with
comparative indifference. However, as knowledge progresses, the various
faculties with which the Creator has thought proper in his wisdom to
endow man will become developed, and the faculty of Smelling will meet
with its share of tuition as well as Sight, Hearing, Touch, and Taste.
Flowers yield perfumes in all climates, but those growing in the warmer
latitudes are most prolific in their odor, while those from the colder
are the sweetest. Hooker, in his travels in Iceland, speaks of the
delightful fragrance of the flowers in the valley of Skardsheidi; we
know that winter-green, violets, and primroses are found here, and the
wild thyme, in great abundance. Mr. Louis Piesse, in company with
Captain Sturt, exploring the wild regions of South Australia, writes:
"The rains have clothed the earth with a green as beautiful as a
Shropshire meadow in May, and with flowers, too, as sweet as an English
violet; the pure white anemone resembles it in scent. The Yellow Wattle,
when in flower, is splendid, and emits a most fragrant odor."
Though many of the finest perfumes come from the East Indies, Ceylon,
Mexico, and Peru, the South of Europe is the only real garden of utility
to the perfumer. Grasse and Nice are the principal seats of the art;
from their geographical position, the grower, within comparatively short
distances, has at command that change of climate best fitted to bring to
perfection the plants required for his trade. On the seacoast his Cassiæ
grows without fear of frost, one night of which would destroy all the
plants for a season; while, nearer the Alps, his violets are found
sweeter than if grown in the warmer situations, where the orange tree
and mignionette bloom to perfection. England can claim the superiority
in the growth of lavender and peppermint; the essential oils extracted
from these plants grown at Mitcham, in Surrey, realize eight times the
price in the market of those produced in France or elsewhere, and are
fully worth the difference for delicacy of odor.
The odors of plants reside in different parts of them, sometimes in the
roots, as in the iris and vitivert; the stem or wood, in cedar and
sandal; the leaves, in mint, patchouly, and thyme; the flower, in the
roses and violets; the seeds in the Tonquin bean and caraway; the bark,
in cinnamon, &c.
Some plants yield more than one odor, which are quite distinct and
characteristic. The orange tree, for instance, gives three--from the
leaves one called _petit grain_; from the flowers we procure _neroli_;
and from the rind of the fruit, essential oil of orange, _essence of
Portugal_. On this account, perhaps, this tree is the most valuable of
all to the operative perfumer.
The fragrance or odor of plants is owing, in nearly all cases, to a
perfectly volatile oil, either contained in small vessels, or sacs
within them, or generated from time to time, during their life, as when
in blossom. Some few exude, by incision, odoriferous gums, as benzoin,
olibanum, myrrh, &c.; others give, by the same act, what are called
balsams, which appear to be mixtures of an odorous oil and an inodorous
gum. Some of these balsams are procured in the country to which the
plant is indigenous by boiling it in water for a time, straining, and
then boiling again, or evaporating it down till it assumes the
consistency of treacle. In this latter way is balsam of Peru procured
from the _Myroxylon peruiferum_, and the balsam of Tolu from the
_Myroxylon toluiferum_. Though their odors are agreeable, they are not
much applied in perfumery for handkerchief use, but by some they are
mixed with soap, and in England they are valued more for their medicinal
properties than for their fragrance.