The Art of Perfumery eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 224 pages of information about The Art of Perfumery.

The Art of Perfumery eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 224 pages of information about The Art of Perfumery.

PINK.—­Dianthus Caryophyllus.—­The clove pink emits a most fragrant odor, “especially at night,” says Darwin.

    “The lavish pink that scents the garden round,”

is not, however, at present applied in perfumery, except in name.

IMITATION ESSENCE OF CLOVE PINK.

Esprit rose, 1/2 pint.
   " fleur d’orange, 1/4 "
   " " de cassie, 1/4 "
   " vanilla, 2 oz. 
Oil of cloves, 10 drops.

It is remarkable how very much this mixture resembles the odor of the flower, and the public never doubt its being the “real thing.”

RHODIUM.—­When rose-wood, the lignum of the Convolvulus scoparius, is distilled, a sweet-smelling oil is procured, resembling in some slight degree the fragrance of the rose, and hence its name.  At one time, that is, prior to the cultivation of the rose-leaf geranium, the distillates from rose-wood and from the root of the Genista canariensis (Canary-rose-wood), were principally drawn for the adulteration of real otto of roses, but as the geranium oil answers so much better, the oil of rhodium has fallen into disuse, hence its comparative scarcity in the market at the present day, though our grandfathers knew it well.  One cwt. of wood yields about three ounces of oil.

Ground rose-wood is valuable as a basis in the manufacture of sachet powders for perfuming the wardrobe.

The French have given the name jacaranda to rose-wood, under the idea that the plant called jacaranda by the Brazilians yields it, which is not the case; “the same word has perhaps been the origin of palisander—­palixander, badly written.”—­Burnett.

ROSE.—­

    “Go, crop the gay rose’s vermeil bloom,
    And waft its spoils, a sweet perfume,
          In incense to the skies.”

    OGILVIE.

This queen of the garden loses not its diadem in the perfuming world.  The oil of roses, or, as it is commonly called, the otto, or attar, of roses, is procured (contrary to so many opposite statements) simply by distilling the roses with water.

The otto, or attar, of rose of commerce is derived from the Rosa centifolia provincialis.  Very extensive rose farms exist at Adrianople (Turkey in Europe); at Broussa, now famous as the residence of Abd-el-Kader; and at Uslak (Turkey in Asia); also at Ghazepore, in India.

The cultivators in Turkey are principally the Christian inhabitants of the low countries of the Balkan, between Selimno, and Carloya, as far as Philippopolis, in Bulgaria, about 200 miles from Constantinople.  In good seasons, this district yields 75,000 ounces; but in bad seasons only 20,000 to 30,000 ounces of attar are obtained.  It is estimated that it requires at least 2000 rose blooms to yield one drachm of otto.

The otto slightly varies in odor from different districts; many places furnish an otto which solidifies more readily than others, and, therefore, this is not a sure guide of purity, though many consider it such.  That which was exhibited in the Crystal Palace of 1851, as “from Ghazepore,” in India, obtained the prize.

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The Art of Perfumery from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.