FEKKUME INDUSTRY. 299 



Thiers at the upper part of the town. The Agaves and 

 Pahns in the garden frame the view of the Old town 

 most effectively and the\' hide the unsiglitly ne\'\- buildings, 

 lea\'ing only the angular old towers and liouses that lie 

 crowded pell-mell on the slope of the hill. 



Howe\'er the object of our visit to Grasse was not 

 to enhance our impressions of tjie scenery, but to obtain 

 an insight into the complicated perfume industr^' here. 

 Grasse has been renowned for more than a hundred and 

 iiity ^•ears for these products, and its success in this 

 iTiannfacture dates back even farther. We were shoxA'n 

 the house in which, in the second lialf of the sixteenth 

 century, Sieur Tombarelli of Florence had fitted up a 

 laboratory for making perfumes. Grasse is now one of 

 the chief perfume manufacturing towns of Ein'ope. It 

 does not, however, supph' the prepared perfumes, such as 

 the so-called "Boutjuets", but onh' the first e.\tracts of 

 which these are composed. "Bouquets" are mixtures \\-hich 

 the perfumers prepare accorthng to the prevailing fashion 

 or taste. The composition of these mixtures is generalh- 

 kept secret, and their blending is a peculiar art recjuiring 

 great experience and special aptitude. vSometimes these 

 mixed perfumes bear names which have no reference 

 whatever to their origin. This is the case with the wideh' 

 used •'Cor\-lopsis du Japon". It is true that several species 

 of the genus Cor\ lopsis belonging to the order Hama- 

 melidaceae occur in Japan, and are also cultivated in our 

 gardens as ornamental shrubs, but the^' have no perfume 

 whatsoe^'er. Dr. E. Gildermeistcr informs me that it was 

 for this vevv reason that the perfume was given this name 



