NOTICES OF EOOKS. 123 



■ The commercial value of these manufactured odours is exceedingly 

 great : British India and Europe alone consume annually more than 

 150^000 gallons of perfumed spirits under various titles, such as Eau 

 de Cologne, Essence of Lavender^ Esprit de Rose, etc. A single per- 

 fumer of Grasse and Paris employs 80,000 lbs. of Orange-flowers, 

 60,000 lbs. of Acacia buds {Acacia Fai'uesiana), 54,000 lbs. of Rose- 

 leaves (petals), 32,000 lbs. of Jasmine-flowers, 32,000 lbs. of Violets, 

 20,000 lbs. of Tuberose, 16,000 lbs, of Lilac, and still larger quantities 

 of the more common scents, Rosemary, Mint, Citron, Thyme, etc. Eighty 

 thousand persons are employed, directly or indirectly, in the South of 

 France in extracting their odours; and tracts of ^0K?^r/arwi5 exist in 

 Turkey, more extensive than the whole of Yorkshire. The various Es- 

 sential Oils or Ottos, paying one shilling per pound duty, entered for 

 Jiome consumption alone, amounted in 1852 to 195,346 lbs.; and the 



duty, at that low rate, to £9766. 165. 



The several processes of Expression, Distillation, Maceration, and 

 Absorption are explained, and then our Author proceeds to notice the 

 plants alphabetically, from which the principal simple perfumes are 

 derived. A list may not be unacceptable to our readers. Allspice. 

 Almonds, Anise. Balm. Balsam (Myroxylon peruiferum and Toluifera 

 Balsamum). Bay (Sweet). Bergamot (from the fruit of Citrus Ber- 

 amia). Benzoin (Styrax Benzoin), much used for pastilles and for 

 fictitiom Vanilla pomade. Caraway. " Cascarilla," this is mentioned 

 as " Cascarilla gratissima," and as a Cape plant, together with " Cas- 



or 



carilla fragrans and C.fmgilis, and the bark as usea lor maKing pas- 

 tilles ; but there must be some error, Cascarilla (meaning ' little bark ' in 

 Spanish) is given to very different plants. The Author probably intends 



Croion Eleuteria, but if so it is West Indian, not a Cape plant : and 

 there are Croton fragrans and Croton fragile, but they are natives of 

 South America. The genus Cascarilla, in botany, is confined to a 

 group of plants detached from Cinchona (Peruvian Barks). Cassia (Cin- 

 namomum Cassia). Cassie, flower-buds (or flower-heads) of Acacia Far- 

 nesiana. M. Piesse properly cautions the inexperienced not to confound 

 Cassie with Cassia, previously named ; the latter should be called Acacia, 

 Cedar-woo J; here we fear M. Piesse's botany is at fault, for he calls it 

 the " Lebanon Cedar-tcood" (meaning Ccdrus LibanI), but from his speak- 

 ing of slips of its wood being used as matches for lighting lamps and 

 further, in describing in a letter to us the fragrant esbcnt.al oil of this 



