VIOLET.—­

    “The forward violet thus did I chide: 
    Sweet thief, whence didst thou steal thy sweet that smells,
    If not from my love’s breath?”

The perfume exhaled by the Viola odorata is so universally admired, that to speak in its favor would be more than superfluous.  The demand for the “essence of violets” is far greater than the manufacturing perfumers are at present able to supply, and as a consequence, it is difficult to procure the genuine article through the ordinary sources of trade.

Real violet is, however, sold by many of the retail perfumers of the West End of London, but at a price that prohibits its use except by the affluent or extravagant votaries of fashion.  The violet farms from whence the flowers are procured to make this perfume are very extensive at Nice and Grasse, also in the neighborhood of Florence.  The true smelling principle or otto of violets has never yet been isolated:  a very concentrated solution in alcohol impresses the olfactory nerve with the idea of the presence of hydrocyanic acid, which is probably a true impression.  Burnett says that the plant Viola tricolor (heart’s ease), when bruised, smells like peach kernels, and doubtless, therefore, contains prussic acid.

The flowers of the heart’s ease are scentless, but the plant evidently contains a principle which in other species of the Viola, is eliminated as the “sweet that smells” so beautifully alluded to by Shakspeare.

For commercial purposes, the odor of the violet is procured in combination with spirit, oil, or suet, precisely according to the methods previously described for obtaining the aroma of some other flowers before mentioned, such as those for cassie, jasmine, orange-flower, namely, by maceration, or by enfleurage, the former method being principally adopted, followed by, when “essence” is required, digesting the pomade in rectified alcohol.

Good essence of violets, thus made, is of a beautiful green color, and, though of a rich deep tint, has no power to stain a white fabric, and its odor is perfectly natural.

The essence of violet, as prepared for retail sale, is thus made, according to the quality and strength of the pomade:—­Take from six to eight pounds of the violet pomade, chop it up fine, and place it into one gallon of perfectly clean (free from fusel oil) rectified spirit, allow it to digest for three weeks or a month, then strain off the essence, and to every pint thereof add three ounces of tincture of orris root, and three ounces of esprit de cassie; it is then fit for sale.

We have often seen displayed for sale in druggists’ shops plain tincture of orris root, done up in nice bottles, with labels upon them inferring the contents to be “Extract of Violet;” customers thus once “taken in” are not likely to be so a second time.

A good IMITATION ESSENCE OF VIOLETS is best prepared thus—­