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proper proportions as determined by analysis. In this way have 

 been manufactured natural oil of bitter almonds and of winter- 

 green ; coumarin — the basis of the perfume called "new-mown 

 hay", originally procured from the leaves of the "deer-tongue", 

 an herb of Virginia, Florida, and, Carolina — and vanillin — the 

 chief odorous principle of the vanilla-pod, the fruit of a Mexican 

 orchid. Any one of the ingredients of an essential oil may 

 perhaps occur in a dozen different places in nature. The com- 

 mercial chemist's problem is to procure each from the least 

 expensive source. Thus vanillin which was first made artificially 

 from coniferin, which occurs in the cambium layer of many 

 woods, and sold at ^55 a pound, is now obtained chiefly by the 

 oxidation of eugenol, the chief ingredient of oil of cloves, and 

 brings but one seventh of its original price. 



By laboratory imitation of the product of the land is meant 

 the synthetical production of a substance wholly different in 

 chemical composition but possessed of similar specific properties. 

 There are for example artificial musk, which has no known 

 chemical relation to the secretion of the musk-deer ; oil of mir- 

 bane, a substitute for oil of bitter almonds, in the scenting of 

 soap ; amy 1 -valerate, as essence of apple, etc. 



Beside the production of the natural product or an imitation 

 of its properties the laboratory has succeeded in creating syn- 

 thetically substances with properties often entirely nezv and very 

 valuable. Such a product is heliotropin which gives a new note 

 in the scale of odors. It was first made from piperine extracted 

 from pepper, but is now prepared commercially by the oxidation 

 of saffrol from the essential oil of sassafras and from oil of 

 camphor. Similar new synthetic products are used in making 

 substitutes for the natural oils of violets, carnations, hyacinths, 

 acacia, orange- flowers, roses, jasmine, and others. 



But considerable as has been the progress of synthetic chemis- 

 try, it is significant to note that in no single case has the coming 

 of a synthetic product injured the market of the natural perfume. 

 The reason for this appears to be threefold. First, the Grassois 

 have met science with scientific methods ; second, the very finest 

 perfumes are still the natural products and they are as much in 



