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Page 9
SECTION II.
"Were not summer's distillations left
A liquid prisoner, pent in walls of glass,
Beauty's effect with beauty were bereft,
Nor it, nor no remembrance what it was;
But flowers distilled, though they with winter meet,
Leese but their show, their substance still lives sweet."
SHAKSPEARE.
The extensive flower farms in the neighborhood of Nice, Grasse,
Montpellier, and Cannes, in France, at Adrianople (Turkey in Asia), at
Broussa and Uslak (Turkey in Asia), and at Mitcham, in England, in a
measure indicate the commercial importance of that branch of chemistry
called perfumery.
British India and Europe consume annually, at the very lowest estimate,
150,000 gallons of perfumed spirits, under various titles, such as eau
de Cologne, essence of lavender, esprit de rose, &c. The art of
perfumery does not, however, confine itself to the production of scents
for the handkerchief and bath, but extends to imparting odor to
inodorous bodies, such as soap, oil, starch, and grease, which are
consumed at the toilette of fashion. Some idea of the commercial
importance of this art may be formed, when we state that one of the
large perfumers of Grasse and Paris employs annually 80,000 lbs. of
orange flowers, 60,000 lbs. of cassia flowers, 54,000 lbs. of
rose-leaves, 32,000 lbs. of jasmine blossoms, 32,000 lbs. of violets,
20,000 lbs. of tubereuse, 16,000 lbs. of lilac, besides rosemary, mint,
lemon, citron, thyme, and other odorous plants in large proportion. In
fact, the quantity of odoriferous substances used in this way is far
beyond the conception of those even used to abstract statistics.
To the chemical philosopher, the study of perfumery opens a book as yet
unread; for the practical perfumer, on his laboratory shelves, exhibits
many rare essential oils, such as essential oil of the flower of the
_Acacia farnesiana_, essential oil of violets, tubereuse, jasmine, and
others, the compositions of which have yet to be determined.
The exquisite pleasure derived from smelling fragrant flowers would
almost instinctively induce man to attempt to separate the odoriferous
principle from them, so as to have the perfume when the season denies
the flowers. Thus we find the alchemists of old, torturing the plants in
every way their invention could devise for this end; and it is on their
experiments that the whole art of perfumery has been reared. Without
recapitulating those facts which may be found diffused through nearly
all the old authors on medical botany, chemistry, pharmacy, and works of
this character, from the time of Paracelsus to Celnart, we may state at
once the mode of operation adopted by the practical perfumer of the
present day for preparing the various extracts or essences, waters,
oils, pomades, &c., used in his calling.
The processes are divided into four distinct operations; viz.--
1. _Expression_; 2. _Distillation_; 3. _Maceration_; 4. _Absorption_.
1. _Expression_ is only adopted where the plant is very prolific in its
volatile or essential oil,--_i.e._ its odor; such, for instance, as is
found in the pellicle or outer peel of the orange, lemon, and citron,
and a few others. In these cases, the parts of the plant containing the
odoriferous principle are put sometimes in a cloth bag, and at others by
themselves into a press, and by mere mechanical force it is squeezed
out. The press is an iron vessel of immense strength, varying in size
from six inches in diameter, and twelve deep, and upwards, to contain
one hundred weight or more; it has a small aperture at the bottom to
allow the expressed material to run for collection; in the interior is
placed a perforated false bottom, and on this the substance to be
squeezed is placed, covered with an iron plate fitting the interior;
this is connected with a powerful screw, which, being turned, forces the
substance so closely together, that the little vessels containing the
essential oils are burst, and it thus escapes. The common tincture press
is indeed a model of such an instrument. The oils which are thus
collected are contaminated with watery extracts, which exudes at the
same time, and from which it has to be separated; this it does by itself
in a measure, by standing in a quiet place, and it is then poured off
and strained.
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