CONCERNING ODOURS, 55-57 



megaleion, Egyptian perfume and sweet marjoram- 

 perfume. Those on the other hand which are weak 

 and have not a powerful scent, since they are volatile 

 and evaporate, also quickly come to an end : for 

 instance rose-perfume and kypros. 



There are some however whose scent is even 

 better on the second day, when any heavy quality 

 that they possessed has evaporated. Some again are 

 altogether more permanent, as spikenard and iris- 

 perfume, and the stronger 1 a perfume is, the longer 

 it lasts. Again some perfumes for some reason keep 

 their scent in the bath when the body is relaxed, 

 or at least do not help to produce a disagreeable 

 effect ; while others become disagreeable and cause 

 an even more unpleasant odour than the sweat, as 

 though some sort of decomposition or decay took 

 place. 



Let this suffice for an account of the manufacture 

 and properties of perfumes. 



Of the making of perfume-poivders and compound perfumes. 



XII. As to the mixing of solid substances to make 

 powders l and compound perfumes, we do not find it 

 here necessary to mix certain specified ingredients : 

 the more numerous and the more various the per- 

 fumes that are mixed, the more distinguished and 

 the more grateful will be the scent just as though 

 one were mixing whatever spices themselves 2 were 

 procurable. As a matter of fact the custom is to use 

 a mixture made of all kinds. Again in perfumes of 

 this class the aim and object is not to make the 

 mixture smell of some one particular thing, but to 



2 Sc. the natural products from which the manufactured 

 perfumes are made. 



377 



