PERFUMERY, considered as a branch of manufacture, is chiefly chemical in its nature ; but its chemistry is of that peculiar kind which relates almost wholly to the odour of substancea, whether animal, vegetable, or mineral,—whether natural or artificial. The relations of the substances to light and colour, or to solidity and liquidity, are of quite secondary importance ; so long as the invisible odour-bearing particles are given of and conveyed by the air to the organ of smell, all substances may take rank among perfumes—except, of course. such as yield an unpleasant odour. It is generally admitted that perfumes, if pleasant, exercise a cheering and exhilarating influence on the human system, and revive the spirits when fatigued or depressed. The connection between the brain and the organ of smell is too close to allow the farmer to be quite uninfluenced by anything which affects the latter.
Without touching here upon the physiological or medical relations of perfumes, we shall say a few words concerning their production as a branch of trade. Linnaeus divided scents into seven kinds, Touray Into five, and De Haller into three. Mr. Himmel, himself a perfumer, who read a, paper on this subject before the Society of Arts in 1860, groups the scents mostly used in perfumery under eighteen kinds, represented by the following types :—rose, jasmine, orange-flower, tuberose, violet, balsam, spice, clove, camphor, /sandal, citrine, lavender, mint, anisee-1, almond, musk, amber, and fruit flavour. The principal branches of the perfumery trade, connected with these eighteen kinds of scents, are the making of scented soaps, the compounding of perfumes, and the production of numerous minor articles for the toilet. Perfumed soaps are made on the same general principle as common soap, but in smaller quantity, with greater care, and with the addition of certain odoriferous substances. The removal of the excise restrictions has been the cause of much improvement in this art, the perfumer being at liberty to make more varied experiments than were before permitted. The perfumed liquids and pastes are very numerous. The basis of most of them is obtained by treating with alcohol the pomade or oil extracted from flowers. There are
also many toilet-waters, such as eau-de-cologne, and the once-famous Hungary water, manufactured chiefly with an alcoholic basis. Lavender water was formerly distilled with alcohol from fresh flowers ; but it is now made more economically by digesting the essential oil in alcohol.
The substances mostly used in the manufacture of perfumery are of animal origin, such as musk, civet, and ambergris ; flowers, such as jasmine, rose, orange-flower, violet, jonquil, narcissus, &c.; herbs, such as the leaves and stalks of peppermint, fennel, thyme, marjoram, spike, rosemary, verbena, &c.; fruits of the citrine kind, such as orange, lemon, and cedrat; apices, such as cassia, cinnamon, cloves, mace, and nutmeg; woods, such as sandal-wood, rosewood, cedar-wood, and sassafras ; roots, such as orris-root and the Indian kus-kus; seeds, such as aniseed, dill, and carraway ; and gums, such as benzoin, styrar, myrrh, camphor, and several balms or balsams. Most of the odoriferous principles are extracted by distillation ; but the aroma of flowers is now very often obtained by the agency of fatty bodies. Scented pomades and oils are produced either by maceration or by absorption ; the former for the less delicate flowers, and the latter for such as the jasmine and tuberose, which cannot bear a high degree of heat without losing their scent. Mr. Himmel states that at three towns in the South of France there are no less than 100 firms engaged in obtaining pomades and essential oils from flowers, consuming annually the following quantities and value of flowers :— The rose-water, orange-flower-water, scented pomades, and essential oils, obtained from these materials have a value of nearly 300,0001. 31. Piver, of Paris, adopts a peculiar mode of obtaining the perfumes of plants by bringing a condensed current of air to bear upon the scented particles, and forcing thenito combine with a kind of ointment. 31. Millon, another French perfumer, extracts the aroma of flowers by means either of ether or sulphuret of carbon, both of which are powerful solvents.