COAL-TAR 55 



are not produced from the flowers, but are put together 

 by the perfumer from chemical compounds or other 

 floral essences. 



In the field of perfumes and flavours the benzene de- 

 rivatives, natural or artificial, play a prominent part. 

 This world would lose a large part of its delight if the 

 "aromatics" should be deprived of the power of titillat- 

 ing our two chemical senses, taste and smell. These six- 

 membered carbon rings enter into all sorts of combina- 

 tions and serve us in various ways. For instance, 

 anthranilic acid in divers forms gives us the odour of 

 jasmine and orange blossoms, the flavour of the grape, 

 and the colour of indigo. 



Salicylic acid cures our corns and relieves our rheu- 

 nnatJsm and in combination with the deadly "wood 

 alcohol" (now rechristened "methanol" to keep people 

 from drinking it) gives us the wintergreen flavour for 

 which we Americans inherit a taste from our New 

 England ancestors. Saccharin, a coal-tar product, is 

 several hundred times sweeter than sugar. It is alto- 

 gether lacking in nutritive value, but a dietary experi- 

 ment on the largest conceivable scale, namely its daily 

 use by many millions of Europeans for several years 

 during the sugar shortage in the late war, should remove 

 the popular impression acquired during the pure food 

 campaign, that it is injurious to health. This has been 

 recently confirmed by M. Bonjean of the Superior 

 Council of French Public Hygiene who made a ser- 

 ies of physiological experiments of long duration with 

 men and dogs in all doses practically possible and 

 found no derangement of health or digestion. 



