10 



Consequently in describing the fades there is put upon perma- 

 nent record the conditions as they existed during the summers 

 of 1908 and 1909 before the despoliation of this valuable tract of 

 woodland made a phytogeographic survey impossible. 



University of Pennsylvania 



FLORAL PERFUMES* 



By Margaret Tucker 



" Floral Perfumes : The Land and the Laboratory " is the 

 title of the chapter in R. K. Duncan's recent book " The Chem- 

 jstry of Commerce " which deals with the commerce in perfumery. 



In the production of perfumes, Professor Duncan tells us, 

 three distinct industries are involved : First, the extraction from 

 the plant of its odoriferous principles in pure and concentrated 

 form ; second, the artificial synthesis of these principles or their 

 successful simulation ; third, the utilization of these products in 

 the art of manufacturing perfumes. 



The center of the first industry, the extraction of the natural 

 essences of the flowers, is at Grasse, a quaint little town in the 

 south of France, where from May till November the people 

 are busy gathering the flowers in their season : violets, jonquils, 

 roses, orange-flowers, thyme, rosemary, myrtle, tuberoses, jas- 

 mine, aspic, lavender from the higher Alps, and red geranium. 

 These approximate a total weight of from ten to twelve billion 

 pounds annually, which means a quite inconceivable number of 

 flowers — five billion jasmine flowers alone — all picked by hand. 



There are four methods for the extraction of the perfume from 

 these flowers : (i) Distillation by steam, which results in extracted 

 oil, and a water distillate saturated with the valuable essence 

 which in the case of many flowers is sold as "distilled waters" 

 known as rose-water, jasmine- water, etc. (2) Cold eiifi enrage, 

 used for the more delicate flowers : jasmine, tuberose, and jon- 

 quil. This is a process in which every day new flowers are laid 

 on sheets of cold pure lard, until it becomes a saturated " po- 

 made " of essence. The solution of perfume is then extracted by 



*This review was written for the teachers' department, but it is so readable that, 

 with this explanation, it lias been placed in the main part of the magazine. 



