52 ODOROGRAPHIA. 
hair-cloth sieve. When fat is employed as the macerating agent, 
the fat used is beef-suet mixed with the lard of the common hog ; 
that kind known commercially as “ corn-fed lard” being preferred, 
as it is superior to other grades in many respects. It melts at 81° 
F., and is softer and more fusible than suet. The success of the 
operation depends on the absolute purity of the grease. To bring 
it into a suitable condition it is “ pan-rendered”’ by dry steam, and 
after being repeatedly melted with alum, salt, and nitre, it is 
washed over and over again with plain water and then with rose- 
water. Finally, it is again melted with a little gum-benzoin. 
The grease thus purified has lost all trace of animal origin, and is 
carefully stowed away until required for use in the basements of 
the factories, which are cool and dry and where it is not subject 
to change. 
Considerable efforts have been made to introduce vaseline, 
petrolin, paraffin, and other such purified mineral products in the 
place of the purified animal grease, and practical experiments on a 
large scale have been made to test the efficiency of these products, 
with the result that although they were found to have a very ab- 
sorbent property, they have not the power of retention, and that 
after a few months they lose about half the perfume imparted to 
them ; consequently for pommades and enflowered oils for export 
they cannot be used. This is a recent opinion, given in answer to 
my inquiry, by one of the largest firms at Grasse ; my informant 
adding that purified grease and olive-oil are the best materials 
known at present for absorbing the perfume of flowers successfully. 
Tn the process of maceration, one hundredweight of the purified 
grease is placed in a tinned copper vessel capable of holding 5 ewt. 
and melted at as low a temperature as possible by means of a 
water-bath or steam-jacket. About 1 cwt. of flowers are then 
added and well stirred in with a wooden spatula. The flowers are 
wholly immersed and left for a day, care being taken to stir the 
mixture occasionally. Every day the flowers are strained off, and 
fresh ones put into the same pommade until it is at full concentra- 
tion. As the flowers which are strained off take up a quantity of 
grease, this is separated by re-melting, straining through a hair- 
sieve, and submitting the marc, wrapped in cloths, to hydraulic 
pressure (the same is done with the mare from olive-oil). The 
fat squeezed out is accompanied by the moisture of the flowers, 
from which it is separated by skimming. All the grease is finally 
