The Art of Perfumery | Page 6

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.

SECTION II.
"Were not summer's distillations left A liquid prisoner, pent in walls of
glass, Beauty's effect with beauty were bereft, Nor it, nor no
remembrance what it was; But flowers distilled, though they with

winter meet, Leese but their show, their substance still lives sweet."
SHAKSPEARE.
The extensive flower farms in the neighborhood of Nice, Grasse,
Montpellier, and Cannes, in France, at Adrianople (Turkey in Asia), at
Broussa and Uslak (Turkey in Asia), and at Mitcham, in England, in a
measure indicate the commercial importance of that branch of
chemistry called perfumery.
British India and Europe consume annually, at the very lowest estimate,
150,000 gallons of perfumed spirits, under various titles, such as eau de
Cologne, essence of lavender, esprit de rose, &c. The art of perfumery
does not, however, confine itself to the production of scents for the
handkerchief and bath, but extends to imparting odor to inodorous
bodies, such as soap, oil, starch, and grease, which are consumed at the
toilette of fashion. Some idea of the commercial importance of this art
may be formed, when we state that one of the large perfumers of
Grasse and Paris employs annually 80,000 lbs. of orange flowers,
60,000 lbs. of cassia flowers, 54,000 lbs. of rose-leaves, 32,000 lbs. of
jasmine blossoms, 32,000 lbs. of violets, 20,000 lbs. of tubereuse,
16,000 lbs. of lilac, besides rosemary, mint, lemon, citron, thyme, and
other odorous plants in large proportion. In fact, the quantity of
odoriferous substances used in this way is far beyond the conception of
those even used to abstract statistics.
To the chemical philosopher, the study of perfumery opens a book as
yet unread; for the practical perfumer, on his laboratory shelves,
exhibits many rare essential oils, such as essential oil of the flower of
the Acacia farnesiana, essential oil of violets, tubereuse, jasmine, and
others, the compositions of which have yet to be determined.
The exquisite pleasure derived from smelling fragrant flowers would
almost instinctively induce man to attempt to separate the odoriferous
principle from them, so as to have the perfume when the season denies
the flowers. Thus we find the alchemists of old, torturing the plants in
every way their invention could devise for this end; and it is on their
experiments that the whole art of perfumery has been reared. Without

recapitulating those facts which may be found diffused through nearly
all the old authors on medical botany, chemistry, pharmacy, and works
of this character, from the time of Paracelsus to Celnart, we may state
at once the mode of operation adopted by the practical perfumer of the
present day for preparing the various extracts or essences, waters, oils,
pomades, &c., used in his calling.
The processes are divided into four distinct operations; viz.--
1. _Expression_; 2. _Distillation_; 3. _Maceration_; 4. Absorption.
1. Expression is only adopted where the plant is very prolific in its
volatile or essential oil,--_i.e._ its odor; such, for instance, as is found
in the pellicle or outer peel of the orange, lemon, and citron, and a few
others. In these cases, the parts of the plant containing the odoriferous
principle are put sometimes in a cloth bag, and at others by themselves
into a press, and by mere mechanical force it is squeezed out. The press
is an iron vessel of immense strength, varying in size from six inches in
diameter, and twelve deep, and upwards, to contain one hundred weight
or