The Art of Perfumery | Page 4

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