Perfumes

Expression.

The general name of the processes used to ex tract the essential oil occurring in the peels of bergamot, lemon, lime and orange fruits. The sponge process is used mainly for lemons and oranges cultivated in Sicily and the Calabrian belt. Girls cut the fruits either transversely or longitudinally and remove the pulp. The peel is then steeped in water to make the cells more turgid. Men then press this drained peel on sponges which absorb the oil. The sponges are squeezed and the oil runs out into a shallow earthenware bowl placed in front of each opera tor. As each bowl is filled it is emptied into jars and allowed to stand until any juice has separated at the bottom. Subsequently it is filtered and packed in copper cans for export. The Ecuelle method consists of rolling the whole fruits about in hollow vessels covered with spikes inside. The oil cells are broken and the liquid flows into a receptacle in the handle. It is then clarified as above. Machines are now largely used to extract the oil from bergamots and lemons. In some cases the peel is broken and the oil collected, while in others the whole fruit is subjected to pressure, when the oil and juice run out together. The oil is separated in a machine something like a milk separator and comes out at the top (cream orifice). Limes are sometimes pressed by the sponge process, but the greater part of the oil is a by-product in the preparation of lime-juice.

Extraction.—The general name given to the processes used for extracting the essence from those flowers to which distillation would not be suitable because (1) the high temperature of steam would damage some of the unstable aromatic constituents and (2) the yield would be inadequate. Enfleurage has been employed in the south of France for many years and until comparatively recently was the process used for extracting all flowers. To-day it is used mainly for jasmin and tuberose and depends upon the absorption of perfume by fats. Wooden frames, called "chassis," each support a glass plate, on both sides of which is painted a specially prepared and purified mixture of beef and pork fats. The petals are spread lightly on the layers of grease and the chassis piled one upon the other. These are left for some hours until the grease has absorbed all the perfume. Fresh flowers replace the exhausted ones and the process is repeated until the fats are fully charged with perfume. These fats are known as pomades. Macer ation differs from enfleurage in that the flowers are immersed in hot fats or oils at about 65°C. The heat ruptures the cells and the perfume is absorbed by the fat. Roses and all other flowers ex cepting jasmin and tuberose are treated this way. Volatile sol vents are now largely used for extracting the essence from all flowers and many leaves and mosses. The vegetable organism is placed in a series of hermetically sealed cylinders and petroleum ether of great purity is allowed to run through them slowly. The

last container is connected with a vacuum still and the solvent is distilled off and returned to the tank for use again. The perfume remains behind in the retort and is called a concrete. It contains the highly odorous essence together with natural and insoluble plant waxes. The concretes are shaken with strong and pure alco hol for 24 hours in machines called "batteuse." The perfume and some wax is dissolved and the insoluble waxes filtered out. The alcoholic extract is then placed in a freezing mixture, when the soluble waxes are separated. The solution of the pure flower essence is distilled in vacuo, which removes the alcohol and leaves behind the so-called absolute flower oil. This is the most ex pensive type of perfumery raw material and in the case of jasmin is worth from L3 to L6 an ounce according to the flower crop. The quantity of this flower used per annum for oil or other of these processes has for many years exceeded 1,300 tons while in the case of orange blossom it is even 2,000 tons.

Animal Perfumes.

These are of great importance in pre paring finished perfumes and impart to them "life" and diffusive ness. The principal animal perfume is musk. This is a dried se cretion from the preputial follicles of the male musk deer, which inhabits the mountainous districts of the Atlas and Himalayan ranges. The most important commercial variety is known as Tonquin musk, coming from Tibet and the plains of Kokonor, where the animal is found at altitudes of about 8,000 feet. The Chinese hunters capture the deer by various means and after kill ing it remove the gland completely. This is dried to develop the odour when it is known as a musk pod. After treatment and fre quent adulteration with blood, earth, shot and hide the pods find their way to Tatsienlu in the province of Szechven. This is the principal centre for the trade and pods are then sent to dealers in Shanghai, whence they are exported. A quantity of musk is retained by the Chinese for medicinal purposes. Ambergris is a calculus formed in the intestines of the sperm whale. It is some times found there when the animal is killed but at others is picked up in the sea after being expelled. The calculus is the product of an intestinal disease caused probably by the insufficient diges tion of cuttlefish, a food much appreciated by the sperm whale.

To find a large piece of ambergris is a rare stroke of luck for sailors and one of the largest pieces ever found was stated to weigh 248 lb. and was valued at L13,200. Civet is a soft fatty sub stance of foetid odour imported principally from Abyssinia and packed in horns. It is a glandular secretion of both male and female civet cats. Castor is another perfume of animal origin, being the dried preputial follicles and their secretion from the Canadian and Russian beaver.