232 



FOREIGN NOTICES. 



tended to inquire after him and his mother in 

 every late letter. The pear raised from his seed 

 hath borne a number of the finest relished fruit. 

 I think a better is not in the world."* 



Some original letters from Linn^us, 

 known to have formerly been in the Bar- 

 tram family, are missing ; they have proba- 



bly been abstracted to send to Europe? 

 before their value was sufficiently appreci- 

 ated. 



We warmly commend this work to all 

 lovers of natural history and natural people. 

 Yours, Philadelphia. 



FOREIGN NOTICES. 



On tht? Odors of Plants and the mode of 

 obtaining them. 



" Unbidden earth shall wreathing flowers bring, 

 And fragrant herbs the promises of spring, 

 As her first offering to the ruling king. :; — Drydeii's Virgil. 



The exquisite pleasure derived from smelling at 

 fragrant flowers would almost instinctively induce 

 man to attempt to separate the odoriferous princi- 

 ple from them, so as to have the perfume when 

 the season denies the flowers; and thus we find 

 the alchemists of old torturing the plants in every 

 way their invention could devise for this end; their 

 experiments were not wholly unsuccessful, and in- 

 deed upon their foundation the whole art of perfu- 

 mery has been reared. Besides the uses in perfu- 

 mery, the essential oils (the matters to which the 

 odor of the plant is due) are used by druggists 

 to cover the bad taste of medicines. Peppermint, 

 Coriander, and Cassia, are much used for this pur- 

 pose, and as the sense of smell has much to do 

 with taste, their utility is obvious; by closing the 

 nostrils, very nasty physics may be swallowed 

 without tasting, particularly Rhubarb. We here 

 see the advantage of the domestic subterfuge of 

 " a little peppermint " with a home " dose of cas- 

 tor oil," or a peppermint lozenge before the "cup 

 of salts and senna." 



Without recapitulating those facts which may 

 be found diffused through nearly all the old authors 

 on medical botany and w T orks of this character, 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, &c, used in his calling. The processes are 

 divided into four distinct operations. 



1. Expression or the squeezing the odor-giving 

 part of the plant between two metal plates, which 

 are generally made hot (though sometimes cold, 

 and hence the term ''cold drawn") and forced to- 

 gether by a powerful screw. This process is on- 

 ly adopted where the plant is very prolific in its 

 oil, i. e., odor. 



* This tree, known as Lady Petre"s pear tree, is still, 

 (1948), flourishing at the Bartram garden, standing close 

 by the house. [We have eaten pears from this tree, when 

 dining- at the Bartram house, which were of the highest 

 quality, not surpassed bv any specimens of Doyenne or 

 butter pears. Ed. Hort.] 



2. Distillation. — The plant or part required is 

 placed in a metal pan, and covered with water; to 

 the pan a dome-shaped lid is fitted, terminating 

 with a pipe, which is twisted cork-screw fashion, 

 and fixed in a bucket, with the end peeping out 

 like a tap in a barrel. The water in the still is 

 made to boil, and having no other exit, the steam 

 must pass through the coiled pipe, w-hich being 

 surrounded by cold water in the bucket, condenses 

 the vapor before it can arrive at the tap ; with the 

 steam the volatile oil or perfume rises, and is li- 

 quified at the same time; the liquids which thus 

 run over, on standing for a time, separate into two 

 portions, and are finally divided with a funnel hav- 

 ing a stopcock in the narrow part of it. By this 

 process, the majority of the oils or perfumes are 

 procured; it so happens, however, that the finest 

 odors, the recherche, as the French say, cannot be 

 procured by this method. Then recourse is had 

 to — 



3. Maceration. — This operation is conducted 

 thus. For what is called pommade, a certain 

 quantity of purified hog's lard and mutton suet are 

 put into a clean metal pan; this being melted, the 

 kind of flowers required for the odor wanted, are 

 carefully picked and put into the liquid fat, and 

 allowed to remain from 12 to 48 hours; the fat 

 has a particular attraction or affinity for the oil of 

 flowers, and thus, as it were, draws it out of them, 

 and becomes itself by their aid, highly perfumed ; 

 the fat is strained from the spent flowers, and fresh 

 are added four or five times oA'er, till the pommade 

 is of the required strength. For perfumed oils the 

 same operation is followed, but in lieu of the lard 

 and suet, fine olive oil, or oil of Ben, is used, and 

 the same results are obtained. These prepara- 

 tions are called Huiles Antiques, or commonly 

 French oils of such and such a flower. When nei- 

 ther of the foregoing processes give satisfactory- 

 results, the method of procedure adopted is by — 



4. Absorption. — The odors of some flowers are 

 so delicate, or, as the French call it, en Jleurage, 

 that the heat required in the previously named pro- 

 cess would greatly modify, if not entirely spoil 

 them; this process is, therefore, conducted cold, 

 thus: Square frames, about 3 inches deep, with a 

 glass bottom, say 2 feet wide and 3 feet long, are 



