PERFUMES AND ESSENTIAL OILS 351 



is at least doubtful considering the present relations of France 

 and Germany. Synthetic products, however, will certainly 

 continue to be made, and the question where (?) can only be 

 answered by time. 



This synthetic industry is a development which follows 

 naturally on the pursuit of knowledge in pure scientific chemistry 

 without regard to possible applications. And much of the know- 

 ledge thus accumulated during the last forty years or more was 

 no doubt regarded by the " practical " man in years gone by as 

 useless. The story is a long one, and it would be unsuitable to a 

 book designed for general reading to attempt to set forth the 

 successive steps which have led up to the position which enables 

 the manufacturer to place on the market substances which can 

 successfully take the place of the perfumes derived from the rose, 

 violet, lilac, lily of the valley, heliotrope, and many other 

 flowers. 



Though many of the discoveries were originally made in 

 German laboratories the later developments have gone forward 

 elsewhere, and many of the leading French perfumery houses 

 are devoting attention and capital to the subject. 



The methods by which coumarin and vanillin have been 

 produced were described at the beginning of the chapter. To 

 these we may now add two other examples which on account of 

 their scientific interest as well as their commercial importance 

 cannot be overlooked. The first of these is the substance known 

 as terpineol, a crystalline solid of which there are two varieties 

 having a pleasant odour. It is the basis of the lilac and lily of 

 the valley artificial perfumes, and is now manufactured by the 

 ton. The original process started with turpentine oil, C 10 H 16 , 

 which mixed with an alcoholic solution of nitric acid is con- 

 verted into a beautiful crystalline compound called terpin 

 hydrate, C 10 H 20 2 .H 2 0. When this is distilled with water and 

 a small quantity of almost any acid it loses the elements of water 

 and terpineol, C 10 H 18 0, passes over in the form of a syrupy 

 liquid. This can be crystallised by cooling. Other processes are 

 now used. 



The chemical structure of terpineol, which is a kind of alcohol, 

 has been the subject of many researches, but it is now fully 

 understood, as it has been produced synthetically from com- 

 pounds of known constitution by Professor W. H. Perkin in 

 1904. 



