The Art of Perfumery, and Methods of Obtaining the Odors of Plants Part 2

BAY, oil of sweet Bay, also termed essential oil of laurel-berries, is a very fragrant substance, procured by distillation from the berries of the bay laurel. Though very pleasant, it is not much used.

BERGAMOT.--This most useful perfume is procured from the _Citrus Bergamia_, by expression from the peel of the fruit. It has a soft sweet odor, too well known to need description here. When new and good it has a greenish-yellow tint, but loses its greenness by age, especially if kept in imperfectly corked bottles. It then becomes cloudy from the deposit of resinous matter, produced by the contact of the air, and acquires a turpentine smell.

It is best preserved in well-stoppered bottles, kept in a cool cellar, and in the dark; light, especially the direct suns.h.i.+ne, quickly deteriorates its odor. This observation may be applied, indeed, to all perfumes, except rose, which is not so spoiled.

When bergamot is mixed with other essential oils it greatly adds to their richness, and gives a sweetness to spice oils attainable by no other means, and such compounds are much used in the most highly scented soaps. Mixed with rectified spirit in the proportions of about four ounces of bergamot to a gallon, it forms what is called "extract of bergamot," and in this state is used for the handkerchief. Though well covered with extract of orris and other matters, it is the leading ingredient in Bayley and Blew's Ess. Bouquet (see BOUQUETS).

[Ill.u.s.tration: Styrax Benzoin.]

BENZOIN, also called Benjamin.--This is a very useful substance to perfumers. It exudes from the _Styrax benzoin_ by wounding the tree, and drying, becomes a hard gum-resin. It is princ.i.p.ally imported from Borneo, Java, Sumatra, and Siam. The best kind comes from the latter place, and used to be called Amygdaloides, because of its being interspersed with several white spots, which resemble broken almonds.

When heated, these white specks rise as a smoke, which is easily condensed upon paper. The material thus separated from the benzoin is called flowers of benzoin in commerce, and by chemists is termed benzoic acid. It has all, or nearly all, the odor of the resin from which it is derived.

The extract, or tincture of benzoin, forms a good basis for a bouquet.[B] Like balsam of Tolu, it gives permanence and body to a perfume made with an essential oil in spirit.

The princ.i.p.al consumption of benzoin is in the manufacture of pastilles (see PASTILLES), and for the preparation of fict.i.tious vanilla pomade (see POMATUMS).

CARAWAY.--This odoriferous principle is drawn by distillation from the seeds of the _Carum carui_. It has a very pleasant smell, quite familiar enough without description. It is well adapted to perfume soap, for which it is much used in England, though rarely if ever on the continent; when dissolved in spirit it may be used in combination with oil of lavender and bergamot for the manufacture of cheap essences, in a similar way to cloves (see CLOVES). If caraway seeds are ground, they are well adapted for mixing to form sachet powder (see SACHETS).

CASCARILLA.--The bark is used in the formation of pastilles, and also enters into the composition known as _Eau a Bruler_, for perfuming apartments, to which we refer.

The bark alone of this plant is used by the manufacturing perfumer, and that only in the fabrication of pastilles. The _Cascarilla gratissimus_ is however so fragrant, that according to Burnett its leaves are gathered by the Koras of the Cape of Good Hope as a perfume, and both the _C. fragrans_ and _C. fragilis_ are odoriferous. It behooves perfumers, therefore, who are on the look out for novelties, to obtain these leaves and ascertain the result of their distillation.

Messrs. Herring and Co., some years ago, drew the oil of cascarilla, but it was only offered to the trade as a curiosity.

Ca.s.sIA.--The essential oil of ca.s.sia is procured by distilling the outer bark of the _Cinnamomum ca.s.sia_. 1 cwt. of bark yields rather more than three quarters of a pound of oil; it has a pale yellow color; in smell it much resembles cinnamon, although very inferior to it. It is princ.i.p.ally used for perfuming soap, especially what is called "military soap," as it is more aromatic or spicy than flowery in odor; it therefore finds no place for handkerchief use.

Ca.s.sIE.--

"The short narcissus and fair daffodil, Pansies to please the sight, and _ca.s.sie_ sweet to swell."

DRYDEN'S _Virgil_.

This is one of those fine odors which enters into the composition of the best handkerchief bouquets.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Flower-buds of the Acacia Farnesiana.]

When smelled at alone, it has an intense violet odor, and is rather sickly sweet.

It is procured by maceration from the _Acacia farnesiana_. The purified fat is melted, into which the flowers are thrown and left to digest for several hours; the spent flowers are removed, and fresh are added, eight or ten times, until sufficient richness of perfume is obtained. As many flowers are used as the grease will cover, when they are put into it, in a liquid state.

After being strained, and the pomade has been kept at a heat sufficient only to retain its liquidity, all impurities will subside by standing for a few days. Finally cooled, it is the ca.s.sie pomade of commerce. The _Huile de Ca.s.sie_, or fat oil of ca.s.sie, is prepared in a similar manner, subst.i.tuting the oil of Egyptian ben nut, olive oil, or almond oil, in place of suet. Both these preparations are obviously only a solution of the true essential oil of ca.s.sie flowers in the neutral fatty body. Europe may shortly be expecting to import a similar scented pomade from South Australia, derived from the Wattle, a plant that belongs to the same genus as the _A. farnesiana_, and which grows most luxuriantly in Australia. Mutton fat being cheap, and the wattle plentiful, a profitable trade may be antic.i.p.ated in curing the flowers, &c.

To prepare the extract of ca.s.sie, take six pounds of No. 24 (best quality) ca.s.sie pomade, and place upon it one gallon of the best rectified spirit, as sent out by Bowerbank, of Bishopsgate. After it has digested for three weeks or a month, at a summer heat, it is fit to draw from the pomatum, and, if good, has a beautiful green color and rich flowery smell of the ca.s.sie blossom. All extracts made by this process--_maceration_, or, as it may be called, cold _infusion_, give a more natural smell of the flowers to the result, than by merely dissolving the essential oil (procured by distillation) in the spirit; moreover, where the odor of the flower exists in only very minute quant.i.ties, as in the present instance, and with violet, jasmine, &c., it is the only practical mode of proceeding.

In this, and all other similar cases, the pomatum must be cut up into very small pieces, after the domestic manner of "chopping suet," prior to its being infused in the alcohol. The action of the mixture is simply a change of place in the odoriferous matter, which leaves the fat body by the superior attraction, or affinity, as the chemists say, of the spirits of wine, in which it freely dissolves.

The major part of the extract can be poured or drawn off the pomatum without trouble, but it still retains a portion in the interstices, which requires time to drain away, and this must be a.s.sisted by placing the pomatum in a large funnel, supported by a bottle, in order to collect the remainder. Finally, all the pomatum, which is now called _washed pomatum_, is to be put into a tin, which tin must be set into hot water, for the purpose of melting its contents; when the pomatum thus becomes liquefied, any extract that is still in it rises to the surface, and can be skimmed off, or when the pomatum becomes cold it can be poured from it.

The washed pomatum is preserved for use in the manufacture of dressing for the hair, for which purpose it is exceedingly well adapted, on account of the purity of the grease from which it was originally prepared, but more particularly on account of a certain portion of odor which it still retains; and were it not used up in this way, it would be advisable to put it for a second infusion in spirit, and thus a weaker extract could be made serviceable for lower priced articles.

I cannot leave ca.s.sie without recommending it more especially to the notice of perfumers and druggists, as an article well adapted for the purpose of the manufacture of essences for the handkerchief and pomades for the hair. When diluted with other odors, it imparts to the whole such a true flowery fragrance, that it is the admiration of all who smell it, and has not a little contributed to the great sale which certain proprietary articles have attained.

We caution the inexperienced not to confound ca.s.sie with ca.s.sia, which has a totally different odor. See ACACIA POMADE.

CEDAR WOOD now and then finds a place in a perfumer's warehouse; when ground, it does well to form a body for sachet powder.

Slips of cedar wood are sold as matches for lighting lamps, because while burning an agreeable odor is evolved; some people use it also, in this condition, distributed among clothes in drawers to "prevent moth."

On distillation it yields an essential oil that is exceedingly fragrant.

Messrs. Rigge and Co., of London, use it extensively for scenting soap.

LEBANON CEDAR WOOD. (_For the Handkerchief._)

Otto of cedar, 1 oz.

Rectified spirit, 1 pint.

Esprit rose trip, 1/4 pint.

The tincture smells agreeably of the wood, from which it can readily be made. Its crimson color, however, prohibits it from being used for the handkerchief. It forms an excellent tincture for the teeth, and is the basis of the celebrated French dentifrice "eau Botot."

CEDRAT.--This perfume is procured from the rind of the citron fruit (_Citrus medica_), both by distillation and expression; it has a very beautiful lemony odor, and is much admired. It is princ.i.p.ally used in the manufacture of essences for the handkerchief, being too expensive for perfuming grease or soap. What is called extract of cedrat is made by dissolving two ounces of the above essential oil of citron in one pint of spirits, to which some perfumers add half an ounce of bergamot.

CINNAMON.--Several species of the plant _Laurus cinnamomum_ yield the cinnamon and ca.s.sia of commerce. Its name is said to be derived from _China Amomum_, the bark being one of the most valued spices of the East. Perfumers use both the bark and the oil, which is obtained by distillation from it. The ground bark enters into the composition of some pastilles, tooth powders, and sachets. The essential oil of cinnamon is princ.i.p.ally brought to this country from Ceylon; it is exceedingly powerful, and must be used sparingly. In such compounds as cloves answer, so will cinnamon.

CITRON.--On distilling the flowers of the _Citrus medica_, a very fragrant oil is procured, which is a species of neroli, and is princ.i.p.ally consumed by the manufacturers of eau de Cologne.

CITRONELLA.--Under this name there is an oil in the market, chiefly derived from Ceylon and the East Indies; its true origin we are unable to decide; in odor it somewhat resembles citron fruit, but is very inferior. Probably it is procured from one of the gra.s.ses of the _Andropogon_ genus. Being cheap, it is extensively used for perfuming soap. What is now extensively sold as "honey" soap, is a fine yellow soap slightly perfumed with this oil. Some few use it for scenting grease, but it is not much admired in that way.

CLOVES.--Every part of the clove plant (_Caryophyllus aromaticus_) abounds with aromatic oil, but it is most fragrant and plentiful in the unexpanded flower-bud, which are the cloves of commerce. Cloves have been brought into the European market for more than 2000 years. The plant is a native of the Moluccas and other islands in the China seas. "The average annual crop of cloves," says Burnett, "is, from each tree, 2 or 2-1/2 lbs., but a fine tree has been known to yield 125 lbs. of this spice in a single season, and as 5000 cloves only weigh one pound, there must have been at least 625,000 flowers upon this single tree."

[Ill.u.s.tration: Clove.]

The oil of cloves may be obtained by expression from the fresh flower-buds, but the usual method of procuring it is by distillation, which is carried on to a very great extent in this country. Few essential oils have a more extensive use in perfumery than that of cloves; it combines well with grease, soap, and spirit, and, as will be seen in the recipes for the various bouquets given hereafter, it forms a leading feature in some of the most popular handkerchief essences, Rondeletia, the Guard's Bouquet, &c., and will be found where least expected. For essence of cloves, dissolve oil of cloves in the proportion of two ounces of oil to one gallon of spirit.

DILL.--Perfumers are now and then asked for "dill water;" it is, however, more a druggist's article than a perfumer's, as it is more used for its medicinal qualities than for its odor, which by the way, is rather pleasant than otherwise. Some ladies use a mixture of half dill water and half rose water, as a simple cosmetic, "to clear the complexion."

The oil of dill is procured by submitting the crushed fruit of dill (_Anethum graveolens_) with water to distillation. The oil floats on the surface of the distillate, from which it is separated by the funnel in the usual manner; after the separation of the oil, the "water" is fit for sale. Oil of dill may be used with advantage, if in small proportions, and mixed with other oils, for perfuming soap.

EGLANTINE, or SWEET BRIAR, notwithstanding what the poet Robert Noyes says--

"In fragrance yields, Surpa.s.sing citron groves or spicy fields,"

does not find a place in the perfumer's "scent-room" except in name.

This, like many other sweet-scented plants, does not repay the labor of collecting its odor. The fragrant part of this plant is destroyed more or less under every treatment that it is put to, and hence it is discarded. As, however, the article is in demand by the public, a species of fraud is practised upon them, by imitating it thus:--

IMITATION EGLANTINE, OR ESSENCE OF SWEET BRIAR.

Spirituous extract of French rose pomatum, 1 pint.

" " ca.s.sie, 1/4 "

" " fleur d'orange, 1/4 "