The Art of Perfumery | Page 8

with a kind of plaster knife or spatula; into this the flower buds are
stuck, cup downwards, and ranged completely over it, and there left
from twelve to seventy-two hours.
Some houses, such as that of Messrs. Pilar and Sons; Pascal Brothers;
H. Herman, and a few others, have 3000 such frames at work during
the season; as they are filled, they are piled one over the other, the
flowers are changed so long as the plants continue to bloom, which
now and then exceeds two or three months.
For oils of the same plants, coarse linen cloths are imbued with the
finest olive oil or oil of ben, and stretched upon a frame made of iron;
on these the flowers are laid and suffered to remain a few days. This
operation is repeated several times, after which the cloths are subjected
to great pressure, to remove the now perfumed oil.
As we cannot give any general rule for working, without misleading the
reader, we prefer explaining the process required for each when we
come to speak of the individual flower or plant.

SECTION III.
Whenever a Still is named, or an article is said to be distilled or
"drawn," it must be understood to be done so by steam apparatus, as
this is the only mode which can be adopted for obtaining anything like
a delicate odor; the old plan of having the fire immediately under the
still, conveying an empyreumatic or burnt smell to the result, has
become obsolete in every well-regulated perfumatory.
The steam-still differs from the one described only in the lower part, or
pan, which is made double, so as to allow steam from a boiler to
circulate round the pan for the purpose of boiling the contents, instead
of the direct fire. In macerating, the heat is applied in the same way, or
by a contrivance like the common glue-pot, as made use of nowadays.
This description of apparatus will be found very useful for experiments
which we will suggest by-and-by.
The perfumes for the handkerchief, as found in the shops of Paris and
London, are either simple or compound; the former are called extracts,
extraits, esprits, or essences, and the latter bouquets and nosegays,
which are mixtures of the extracts so compounded in quantity that no
one flower or odor can be discovered as predominating over another;
and when made of the delicate-scented flowers carefully blended, they
produce an exquisite sensation on the olfactory nerve, and are therefore
much prized by all who can afford to purchase them.
We shall first explain the mode for obtaining the simple extracts of
flowers. This will be followed by the process for preparing ambergris,
musk, and civet, substances, which, though of animal origin, are of the
utmost importance as forming a large part in the most approved
bouquets; and we shall conclude this department of the art with recipes
for all the fashionable bouquets and nosegays, the value of which, we
doubt not, will be estimated according to the labor bestowed upon their
analysis.

In order to render the work more easy of consultation, we have adopted
the alphabetical arrangement in preference to a more scientific
classification.
Among the collection of ottos of the East India Company at the
Exhibition of 1851, were several hitherto unknown in this country, and
possessing much interest.
It is to be regretted, that no person having any practical knowledge of
perfumery was placed on the jury of Class IV or XXIX. Had such been
the case, the desires of the exhibitors would probably have been
realized, and European perfumers benefited by the introduction of new
odors from the East. Some of the ottos sent by a native perfumer of
Benares were deemed worthy of honorable mention. Such as
Chumeylee, Beyla, Begla, Moteya, and many others from the Moluccas,
but without any information respecting them.
We are not going to speak of, perhaps, more than a tithe of the plants
that have a perfume--only those will be mentioned that are used by the
operative perfumer, and such as are imitated by him in consequence of
there being a demand for the article, which circumstances prevent him
from obtaining in its genuine state. The first that comes under our
notice is--
ALLSPICE.--The odoriferous principle of allspice, commonly called
pimento, is obtained by distilling the dried fruit, before it is quite ripe,
of the Eugenia pimenta and Myrtus pimenta with water. It is thus
procured as an essential oil; it is but little used in perfumery, and when
so, only in combination with other spice oils; for scenting soap it is,
however, very agreeable, and much resembles the smell of cloves, and
deserves more attention than it has hitherto received. Mixed in the
proportion of two ounces of oil of allspice with one gallon of