86 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



arbitrations, etc., has been enormous; on the other side of the ac- 

 count is the comparatively small tax on the few thousand skins taken 

 on the islands since 1890, to say nothing of possible large payments 

 of damages to the lessees for loss of profits on account of a forced 

 diminution in the catch. With the present attitude of Great Britain, 

 the practical extermination of the herd in the near future seems 

 assured. The United States may have the pick of what remains by 

 wholesale killing on the islands; further international irritation 

 will be avoided, and an episode which has brought into strong relief 

 certain national traits on both sides will close with at least one inter- 

 esting result: it will be impossible to know absolutely which group 

 of scientific experts was right in regard to the effects of pelagic 

 sealing. 



NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL PERFUMES. 



By M. JACQUES PASSY. 



~TTT"E may divide the makers of perfumes into the two classes 

 VV of those who furnish the raw materials for perfumery and 

 the manufacturers proper. The former provide the essences, the 

 pure or concentrated scents, and the latter mix and extend them, 

 incorporate them into various liquids or pastes, and offer them for 

 consumption. Another division, of recent occasion, may be made 

 between those who extract natural perfumes according to the 

 methods pursued for centuries and those who use chemical pro- 

 cesses or make artificial perfumes; for, as dyestuffs are now com- 

 posed from coal-tar products to the extent that some of the natural 

 materials have been driven out by artificial substitutes, so a number 

 of perfumes have been in like manner synthetized. But there is 

 no probability that the synthesis of perfumes will ever be carried 

 to the extent of which that of dyes seems capable, because, first, 

 some essences are the raw material for the synthesis of artificial 

 products of much greater value; and, secondly, the chemical prob- 

 lem of the synthesis of perfumes is more complicated than that 

 which enters into the artificial production of coloring matters. 



The preparation of natural essences is still a genuine agricul- 

 tural industry. Flowers and leaves are the raw material, and they 

 have to be treated fresh. The original laboratories are therefore 

 generally established very near where the plants can enjoy the most 

 favorable climatic conditions. Hence the crude essences generally 

 come to us from various distant regions essence of ilang from 

 Manilla, of geranium from Reunion and Algeria, of lemon and 

 citron from Ceylon and China, etc. But as the imported materials 



