(p. 106)

14. SOBRE OS PERFUMES

            MY DEAR SELINA, – I am quite ready to comply with your request that I should conclude my observations on the cosmetic and toilet arts by giving a brief summary of the history and science of perfumery. Perfumes are as necessary to the toilet of the gentlewoman as soaps, oils, and powders, and, indeed, all these are themselves invariably scented and so rendered agreeable for use. So ancient is the art of perfumery that its origin was by the Greeks imputed to the Immortals. One of the nymphs of Venus is said to have imparted to mankind the secret of extracting from flowers those essences by whose magic virtues the undying charms of her mistress were enhanced and preserved. The Egyptians, the Orientals, the Jews, the Chinese, the Romans – all, from time immemorial, made profuse usage of balms, incense, pomades, and liquid scents, which were carried about on the person in small vases of alabaster, or onyx, or in gold and silver caskets. Perfumed woods were burned in dwelling-houses and in temples; the bodies of the dead were embalmed with sweet-smelling resins, and no banquet was complete where the guests were not anointed with fragrant oils during or after the repast. In this country, the art of perfumery appears to have reached its height in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, who was greatly addicted to the use of scents, and who not only

(p. 107)

wore a jewelled pomander on all state occasions, but caused her entire wardrobe, including even her shoes and gloves, to be perfumed. At the South Kensington Museum may be seen a perfume-coffer, said to have belonged to the Virgin-monarch, containing six separate compartments appropriated to as many different scents. Mary Stuart is also described as a great lover of perfumes, and some chronicles attribute to her in this respect an extravagance equal to that of the Roman ladies in the days of the celebrated Poppea, on whose funeral pile more perfume was consumed than all Arabia could produce in an entire year.

            Under the Renaissance the art of perfumery revived with the taste for beauty and decorative architecture. Catherine de Medicis was everywhere attended by her perfumer, whose office at Court became one of considerable importance and honour. Diana of Poitiers, Marguerite of Valois, Ninon de l’Enclos, and other celebrated beauties made great use of scented waters and baths perfumed with various essences; hence the variously named toilet washes still in vogue, such as “Eau de Ninon,” “Hungary Water,” “Pompadour Scent,” and the like. In the present day we are more refined in our appreciation of odours than were our ancestors of some centuries back. Strong perfumes, such as those commonly used to excess by Court ladies and gentlemen in the times of François I., Henri III., or Louis XIII., would be deemed coarse and overpowering in the salons of the nineteenth century. Even patchouli and musk are now out of mode, and their use in “society” would be generally regarded as a breach of good taste. The odours most in favour with us to-day belong to the ranks of the more delicate essences, such as violet, rose, cedar-wood, jasmine, or heliotrope; and many of our fashionable

(p. 108)

perfumes are composite preparations, in which, by a judicious and scientific combination of some four or five different essences, a fragrance of remarkably subtle and tender character is produced. For instance, vanilla, almond, clematis, and heliotrope blend admirably together, and form an aroma as completely harmonious as the chord of a major key in a low octave, while lemon, orange-flower, and verbena mingled produce a perfume which may be compared with a similar chord sounded two or more octaves higher. So great is the analogy between odours and musical sounds, that the very gradations, timbre, and qualities of the latter appear to correspond with similar attributes of the former; there are scents suggestive of minor concords, of deep notes, or of high, clarion-like tones, and we speak quite naturally of odours that are “sharp” or “flat” according to the impression they produce on our olfactory nerves.

            As for the strange connection subsisting between perfume and the mental processes, experience universally demonstrates the fact that nothing so instantaneously evokes and revives forgotten memories as the smell of some odour in affinity with events or scenes long since passed out of mind. Nor is it always easy to relate the scent in question with the recollection thus awakened. I cannot, for example, account for the circumstance that the odour of sweet peas invariably recalls to me the parlour of a little seaside cottage in which, when a child, I spent many very happy days. Certainly I have smelt sweet peas since then in hundreds of various gardens and houses, yet none of these is recalled to mind by the aroma in question, but only and always that one particular place, of which I am never reminded in any other way. And these memories are not mere indefinite recollections. They are vivid, sharp, instinct with life.

(p. 109)

They spring up in the mind like actual revivals of the past, with all the accessories of minute detail and personal feeling associated with them years and years ago. As the magic odour floats over our nervous surfaces, the heart throbs again with emotions and hopes of which we have long ceased to have experience. Time rolls back, the atmosphere around us is changed – we are young, we are sanguine, we believe in love! But, in a moment, the curtain falls again; the perfume is dissipated or spent in the air, and no effort voluntarily made can continue or revive the charm. Memory sinks once more to her ordinary level of generalities, the living moment has passed, and we are back again in the existence and scenes of the present hour.

            The scent of flowers has its origin, for the most part, in a volatile oil, or “essence,” contained in the interior of the corolla. Some plants yield aromatic resin or “gums” by incision, as, for instance, benzoin, myrrh, and other balms. Balm of Peru and Tolu are prepared by boiling the plant which contains them, filtering the infusion, boiling it a second time, and then evaporating the liquid until a thick residue is obtained. Extracts employed as perfumes for the toilet, whether in the form of “eaux” or otherwise, are produced by four distinct processes, varied according to the nature of the flower or plant under treatment. These methods consist of expression, distillation, maceration, and absorption. The first process, that of pressure, is suitable only when the volatile essence of the plant employed is extremely abundant. In such cases mechanical force alone is sufficient to extract the odoriferous substance. A vice fixed in an apparatus capable of producing enormous pressure, regulates the operation and equalises the distribution of the weight. The liquid obtained by this method is subsequently

(p. 110)

separated by filtration from the watery juices expressed with it.

           Distillation is a more complicated process, but better adapted to the majority of plants. A large vase capable of containing some fifty or hundred litres is partly filled with flowers, and water is poured upon them. The receptacle is then covered with a dome-like lid, from which issues a tube curled like a corkscrew, the spirals of which are passed through a deep apparatus containing cold water. The mouth of the spiral tube terminates in a spout placed over an open jar. Heat is applied to the water in which the flowers are plunged, steam arises from it, and, having no other outlet, passes into the curved tube. Here the vapour is condensed by the cold water surrounding the tube, and being thus again reduced to a liquid condition, it issues in a watery state through the mouth of the tube into the receptacle set to receive it. The crude perfume thus obtained soon separates itself, by repose, into two layers, the heavier of which is easily divided from the lighter watery portion. It is thus that most toilet perfumes are procured, though in some cases, spirit of wine or rectified alcohol is substituted for the water poured on the flowers in the alembic, or, occasionally, a little salt is added to the water used, in order to raise its boiling-point. The process ofmaceration is accomplished by means of clarified grease or olive oil, into which the flowers under treatment are plunged, and in which they are allowed to remain, exposed to a high temperature, during twenty-four or forty-eight hours. The oil or fat becomes impregnated with perfume, the flowers, now exhausted of their essence, are strained out, and fresh ones introduced, and the process is continued until an oil of the required strength is obtained. When none of the three processes – pressure, distillation and

(p. 111)

maceration – can be effectively employed, recourse is had to the fourth operation of absorption.

            The fragrance of some plants is so delicate and so volatile that the heat necessary in the two last methods described would prove destructive, or at least injurious to it, and mechanical pressure would be insufficient for the purpose of extracting the essential principles. In the operation known as absorption, large frames with glass bottoms are used. These bottoms are covered with a layer of cold solid oil or clarified lard, and over this layer are thickly spread the petals of the flowers selected for treatment. After periods from twenty-four to seventy-two hours, these petals are changed for others, and so on, during, perhaps, two or three months. Grease has a remarkable affinity for volatile vegetable essences, and – contact with the open-air being avoided by covering in the frames, or piling them one on another – the odour rapidly attaches itself to the oily substance in contact with the petals, which thus becomes strongly saturated with it. This process is sometimes combined with that of mechanical pressure, the flower petals being spread upon oiled linen or cotton and submitted to the action of a hydraulic press.

            To these processes, in general vogue both on the Continent and in this country, other supplementary operations have been added, such as the pneumatic, in which the agency of currents of air is employed to convey odoriferous particles into receptacles containing hot oil; and the method of dissolution, in which ether, petroleum, and other chemical media are employed, but this process is preliminary only to distillation and evaporation.

            Such are the basic operations in vogue for the preparation of perfumes. Of course many varieties of method are practised, and many subsequent processes of blending,

(p. 112)

harmonizing, and combining different odours so as to produce one of a complex nature. It is thus that new scents are invented by skilful manipulation of old materials, precisely as a musical composer makes new tunes by a novel arrangement of the familiar notes of the gamut.

            A word before closing this letter about perfumed powders, such as are used to fill sachets for wearing on the person, or placing in wardrobes, dressing-cases, and so forth.

            The basis of these powders is usually reindeer moss, in coarse powder (lichen rangiferinus). This substance is chosen because it has, naturally, a pleasant odour, and is very retentive of scent artificially mixed with it. Oak-moss and other lichens are sometimes, however, used instead. The vehicle thus chosen is, when washed, dried and pulverised, known as Cyprus-powder.

            In order to make scented powders “aux fleurs,” whether of roses, jasmine, violets, orange-blossom, or otherwise, the Cyprus-powder is mixed with about a twentieth of its weight of the petals of the flower selected, in a fresh state. The mixture is then lightly shaken together in a covered tin canister, and stirred several times in the course of the day. Next day the petals are sifted out, fresh ones added, and the stirring repeated. In this way a new supply of petals must be added three or four times, and the powder will then be sufficiently perfumed. Sometimes, and almost always for commercial purposes, the prepared Cyprus-powder, instead of being shaken up with flowers, is merely scented by the addition of ground tonquin-beans, cloves, orris-root, calamus aromaticus, ambergris, cassia, musk-seed, sandal-wood, oil of bergamot, of millefleurs, of vanilla, of lavender, of patchouli, of neroli, or otto of roses.

(p. 113)

            Here is a specimen formula: –

Orris root, coarsely powdered ...............................  2 oz.

Cassia do. ..........................................................  1 ½ oz.

Cloves do. ..............................................................  1 oz.

Cedar wood rasped ..............................................  ¼ oz.

Yellow sandal wood rasped ................................... ¼ oz.

Ambergris, powdered ......................................  6 grains.

Musk-seed do. .................................................  6 grains.

            Mix. Then add: –

Oil of lavender ...............................................  1 drachm

Oil of bergamot .............................................  1 drachm.

Otto of roses ...................................................  15 drops.

            Blend the whole thoroughly with a chosen proportion of Cyprus powder.

Seções: Índice Geral   Seção Atual: Índice   Obra: Índice   Anterior: 13. Sobre os Dentes   Seguinte: 15. Sobre o “Bebê”