COAL-TAR 49 



would colour the curtains of the palace of the king or of 

 the temple of the deity; whatever would serve to scent 

 the banquet hall or ascend to heaven as incense from 

 the altar. 



Now these that were the gifts of kings, the prerogative 

 of royalty, the acme of luxury, all these have, by the 

 bounty of science, been put within the reach of all. To 

 be born to the purple is no longer a distinction. It is 

 the natural heritage of any American babe. King 

 Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like a lady who 

 has all the aniline dyes at her disposal. The shop girl 

 may rival the Queen of Sheba in her employment of 

 perfume and she often does. 



But notice this that perfumes and similar luxuries 

 are not used so lavishly now when they are cheap as int 

 the days when they were rarities. They are not abused 

 by the many as they were by the privileged few. We 

 may think that nowadays some people put too much 

 scented unguent on their person, but we never see any 

 one with so much of it as was used in the case of Aaron, 

 where it soaked his head, ran down to the tip of his 

 beard and went on to grease his garments to the skirt 

 and doubtless formed a puddle on the floor. If we 

 should see and smell anything like that to-day, there 

 would indeed be reason for outcry against the growing 

 extravagance of the age. 



All of the comforts and conveniences of our ordinary 

 life were on their introduction denounced by moralists 

 as extravagant and demoralizing luxuries. Juvenal de- 

 clared that Rome was in decadence because the rich 

 used ice and white bread at their banquets. But now- 



