Perfumes and their preparation

This is the finest among the true violet perfumes. Less fine, though still of prime quality, is the following:

Verbena A (Extrait de Verveine).

A cheap and pleasant perfume: the following is far superior.

Verbena B.

This “Extract of Verbena B” is a modification of that given previously, on page 164.

Extrait de Verveine C.

Violettes des Montagnes.

Volcameria.

Forest Breeze (Pine-Needle Odor.)

The oil of turpentine must be clear like water, and most carefully rectified. If it can be obtained of good quality, the oil distilled from the leaves or needles of Pinus sylvestris, commonly known as pine-needle oil or fir-wool oil, is to be preferred for this purpose. Still better is the oil obtained from Pinus Pumilio.

West End.

Wintergreen.

Flowers of the Isle of Wight.

Yacht Club.

The characteristic odor of this perfume depends upon the volatile oil adhering to the sublimed benzoic acid; for this reason no other benzoic acid should be used than that obtained by sublimation.

Ylang-Ylang.

Appendix.

The great majority of the above-described perfumes are made with extracts prepared from pomades; hence their cost of production is considerable and the selling-price high. For the requirements of the middle classes, quite fragrant perfumes are manufactured by dissolving the cheaper essential oils in ordinary alcohol, and various new odors can be obtained by mixing several of them. The extracts made with cheap oils are well suited to this purpose. The oils most frequently used for such articles are those of bergamot, lemon, orange peel, lavender flowers (French), lemon grass, nutmeg, clove, and santal. The alcohol must be free from fusel oil and have a strength of at least 70% Tralles.

Oils with not very intense odor are generally used in the proportion of about 2 to 2½ ounces to the quart of alcohol; half that quantity will suffice for strong-scented oils such as those of lemon-grass, clove, and nutmeg.

From these simple solutions an experienced manufacturer can produce very nice perfumes by mixing them in due proportions; they are comparatively cheap, and sometimes they yield relatively more profit than the finest articles, whose contents and containers generally represent a considerable outlay on the part of the manufacturer.

CHAPTER XV.
AMMONIACAL AND ACID PERFUMES.

A. Ammoniacal Perfumes.

Ammonia (ammonia water) has a disagreeable odor and exerts a very caustic effect on the lachrymal glands. Despite these properties, ammonia, in a highly dilute condition and mixed with other aromatics, finds manifold application in perfumery and serves particularly for the manufacture of the so-called smelling salts, or inexhaustible salts, used for filling smelling bottles.

The liquid or caustic ammonia, however, is not so suitable for the purposes of the perfumer as the carbonate of ammonia, which when pure forms colorless crystals usually covered with a white dust (consisting of bicarbonate of ammonia); these, undergoing gradual decomposition, give off the odor of ammonia and hence are more lasting in smelling bottles than the pure liquid ammonia.

The main essential for both of these substances is purity. Caustic ammonia as well as carbonate of ammonia are now obtained on a large scale from “gas liquor,” but the crude products always retain some of the penetrating odor of coal tar which renders them valueless for the purposes of the perfumer. We must, therefore, make it a rule to use nothing but perfectly pure materials which, moreover, are easily to be had in the market.

Inexhaustible Salt (Sel Inépuisable).

The aromatics are placed in a bottle, the ammonia is added, and the bottle vigorously shaken; the solution is soon effected, and the turbid liquid can be at once filled into bottles.

According to the material from which the containers are made, different methods must be adopted. It is necessary to give the liquid such form as to prevent its flowing out when the vessel is inverted; this is important, as the bottles are often carried in dress pockets and the ammonia destroys most colors. As a rule the vessels are filled with indifferent porous substances which are moistened with the perfume. If the container is made of box wood, ivory, porcelain, or some other opaque material, it is filled with fibres of asbestos or with very small pieces of sponge, and as much perfume is poured in as the substance can take up; the vessels are then inverted into a porcelain plate and allowed to drain, and are finally closed with a loose plug of cotton. If the container is transparent, it is better to use, instead of the asbestos or sponge which do not look neat, either small pieces of white pumice stone, powdered glass, small white glass beads, or crystals of sulphate of potassium which is insoluble in the perfume.

White Smelling Salt (Sel Blanc Parfumé).

While the first-named ammoniacal preparation is called a salt, it is really nothing but perfumed caustic ammonia; but white smelling salt is what its name indicates and can be perfumed as desired by the consumer; but as only certain scents harmonize with ammonia, not every odor can be employed; the most appropriate are oils whose odor resembles that of rose, and the oils of nutmeg and cinnamon.

Mix in a large porcelain jar—

Cover the jar and leave it at rest. After some days the mixture will have changed into a firm mass of monocarbonate of ammonia which is rubbed to a coarse powder, perfumed, and filled into bottles. The above quantities require:

The oils are poured into a mortar and rubbed up with about one-tenth of the salt; of this perfumed salt enough is added to the several portions of the mass, and triturated until the odor is equally distributed. For cheaper smelling salts oils of geranium and cassia may be substituted for the oils of rose and cinnamon.

Preston Salt (Sel Volatil).

In this perfume ammonia is continually generated; the salt is prepared by mixing chloride of ammonium or sal-ammoniac in fine powder with freshly slaked lime. Fine or cheap perfume is added, according to the grade desired. The mixture of sal-ammoniac and slaked lime continually develops small amounts of ammonia—it takes a long time until the decomposition is complete, and for this reason a bottle filled with Preston salt retains the odor of ammonia for several years.

Eau de Luce.

This is the only ammoniacal perfume used in a liquid form. It is made according to the following formula:

The tinctures are mixed with the ammonia by agitation and immediately filled into bottles; the liquid should have a milky appearance. At times 150 grains of white soap is added which aids in imparting to the liquid the desired milky appearance. In fine eau de Luce the odor of ambergris should predominate; this can be easily effected by increasing the amount of tincture of ambergris.

B. Acid Perfumes.

As there is a group of perfumes which is distinguished by their characteristic odor of ammonia and which we have therefore called ammoniacal, so there is an important series of articles containing acetic acid which are used cosmetically as so-called toilet vinegars, and in some washes.

Ordinary vinegar, i.e., water containing four to six per cent of acetic acid, has, as is well known, a not unpleasant refreshing odor and a pure acid taste. Pure acetic acid, now made in large quantities and of excellent quality, is known commercially as glacial acetic acid. In commerce, it is customary to designate any acetic acid containing 85 or more per cent of the absolute acid, as glacial acetic acid. In chemical or pharmacopœial nomenclature, however, the glacial acid is meant to be as near 100% as possible. In perfumery, an 85% acid is sufficiently strong. It forms a colorless liquid with a narcotic odor and an intensely acid taste; it congeals into glassy crystals at a temperature of 8.5° C. (47° F.). The latter property is of importance as showing the purity of the acid. Concentrated acetic acid, like alcohol, dissolves aromatic substances, with which it forms perfumes which differ from those made with alcohol mainly by their peculiar refreshing after-odor which is due to the acetic acid.

Acetic acid can be saturated with various odors and thus furnish fine perfumes; but for so-called toilet vinegars which are used as washes the acetic acid must be properly diluted, since the concentrated acid has pronounced caustic properties, reddens the skin, and may even produce destructive effects on sensitive parts such as the lips.

Aromatic Vinegar (Vinaigre Aromatique).

Instead of the perfumes here given, finer odors may be employed for the production of superior toilet vinegars; thus we find vinaigre ambré, au musc, à la violette, au jasmin, etc., according to the perfume used. As concentrated acetic acid dissolves most aromatic substances the same as alcohol, all alcoholic perfumes may have their counterparts in acetic acid; but the aromatics should never be added in so large amount as to mask the characteristic odor of the acetic acid. A very pleasant vinegar may be produced by combining an alcoholic with an acid perfume, as in the following:

Spiced Vinegar (Vinaigre aux Épices).

for two weeks, mix the liquids, and filter them into a bottle which should not be completely filled. The longer this mixture is allowed to season in the bottle, the finer will be the aroma; for in the course of time the alcohol and acetic acid react on each other and form acetic ether, which likewise possesses a pleasant aromatic odor.

Certain aromatic vinegars, like ammoniacal perfumes, are filled into smelling bottles containing the same porous substances for their absorption, namely, sponge, pumice stone, crystals of potassium sulphate, etc.

FORMULAS FOR TOILET VINEGARS.

Vinaigre a la Rose.

This should be colored a pale rose tint with one of the dye-stuffs to be enumerated hereafter. The use of true wine vinegar is to be recommended for this and all the following toilet vinegars, as the œnanthic ether it contains has a favorable effect on the fineness of the odor.

Vinaigre aux Fleurs d’Oranges.

This is usually left colorless.

Vinaigre aux Violettes.

Vinaigre de Quatre Voleurs.

Preventive Vinegar (Vinaigre Hygiénique).

Macerate the solids with the alcohol and vinegar.

Vinaigre de Cologne.

As this vinegar is made by mixing an alcoholic perfume with acetic acid, so all other alcoholic perfumes may be employed for a like purpose; but the quantities must be determined by experiment, for the various aromatics differ in the intensity of their odor.

Vinaigre étheré.

The water should be added after the ethers have been dissolved in the glacial acetic acid.

Vinaigre de Lavande.

To be stained a bluish color with indigo-carmine.

Orange-Flower Vinegar.

Mallard’s Toilet Vinegar.

Toilet Vinegar (French Formula).

Macerate for two weeks, and filter.

Vinaigre Polyanthe.

To be stained with tincture of krameria (rhatany).

CHAPTER XVI.
DRY-PERFUMES.

As a matter of course, dry perfumes are of greater antiquity than fluid; aromatic substances require merely to be dried in order to retain their fragrance permanently. The oldest civilized people known in history—Egyptians, Assyrians, Persians, Babylonians, and the Jews, as numerous passages in the Bible prove—used dried portions of plants, leaves, flowers, and resins as perfumes and incense.

To this day there is kept up quite a trade in Valeriana celtica, a strong-scented Alpine plant, and in powdered amber, with the Orient, where they are used for scent bags and incense respectively. The Catholic Church retains to the present time the Jewish rite of burning incense, and in our museums will be found urns, taken from Egyptian graves, from which pleasant odors escape even now after nearly four thousand years, owing to the aromatic resins with which they are filled. It is said, too, that the delightful volatile odors of our handkerchief perfumes were first prepared by an Italian named Frangipanni conceiving the idea of treating a dry mixture of different aromatic plants with alcohol and thus imparting the odor they contained to the latter.

Not all aromatics can be made into sachet powders; it is well known that the delightful odor of violets changes into a positively disagreeable smell when the flowers are dried, and the same remark applies to the blossoms of the lily of the valley, mignonette, lily, and most of our fragrant plants. On the other hand, some portions of plants, especially those in which the odorous principle is contained not only in the flower but in all parts of the plant, as in the mints, sage, and most Labiatæ, remain fragrant for a long time after drying and hence can be employed for sachets. Besides the plants named, lavender, rose leaves, the leaves of the lemon and orange tree, Acacia farnesiana, patchouly herb, and some other plants continue fragrant after drying.

Any vegetable substance to be used for sachets must be completely dried so as to prevent mould. The drying should be effected in a warm, shady place, sometimes in heated chambers; direct sunlight and excessive heat injure the strength of the odor, a portion of the aromatics becoming resinified and volatilized. If artificial heat is employed, a temperature between 40 and 45° C. (104-113° F.) is most suitable.

The external form of this class of preparations varies of course with the public for which it is intended. Expensive sachets are sold in silk bags with different ornamentation; those intended for the Orient are generally put up as small silk cushions richly ornamented with gold and colors to suit Oriental taste. Cheap sachets are sold in envelopes or in round boxes. It is customary to have the ingredients ground or finely powdered, for which purpose small hand-mills will generally suffice.

CHAPTER XVII.
FORMULAS FOR DRY PERFUMES (SACHETS).

Ceylon Sachet Powder.

Cyprian Sachet Powder.

The oil is mixed with the finely powdered or rasped woods and distributed in the mass by trituration.

Field Flower Sachet Powder.

Frangipanni Sachet Powder.

Heliotrope Sachet Powder.

Indian Sachet Powder.

Lavender Sachet Powder.

Marshal Sachet Powder.

Mille Fleurs Sachet Powder.

Muslin Sachet Powder.

Olla Podrida.

This name is applied in Spain to a dish prepared from various remnants of food. The olla podrida of the perfumer is made from the remnants of the aromatic vegetable substances after their extraction with alcohol, petroleum ether, etc. Although vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, etc., be repeatedly extracted, they still retain their characteristic odor, though somewhat fainter, and thus they can be used with advantage for sachet powders intended for filling bags, cushions, etc. If mixed in corresponding proportions, they can be made use of for all the sachets here enumerated. No definite formula can be given for a peculiar dry perfume to be called Olla podrida; the olfactory organ is the best guide.

Patchouly Powder.

The musk is rubbed up with gradually increased quantities of the patchouly herb and with the addition of the oil of patchouly; the intimate mixture of the powder saturated with musk and oil of patchouly and the rest of the powder is effected by prolonged stirring of the two powders in a large vessel. The same process is followed with all other dry powders in which a small amount of a solid with intense odor or of an essential oil is to be mixed with a large quantity of powder.

Persian Sachet Powder.

Portugal Powder.

Potpourri.

Many widely differing perfumes are sold in the market under this name; a good formula for its preparation is the following:

The admixture of fine white sand, table salt, or powdered glass or marble, etc., is made merely for the purpose of increasing the weight.

Rose Sachet Powder, A.