186 ON THE PERFUMERY TRADE, 



crystallised, and very fragrant. Reunion exhibits also cassia, cloves, nut~ 

 megs, and citronella. 



The French West India colonies send specimens of vanilloes (Vanilla 

 p'ompona), a sort of wild vanilla, and various spices. We have also to 

 notice a very fine specimen of sandal -wood (Santalum Aiistro-caled&niscuni), 

 and one of Ocotea aromatica, a bark possessing a strong sassafras flavour, 

 both fromiVew Caledonia ; a very fair sample of vanilla from Tahiti, the 

 first grown in that island, and a fragrant bark from Cochin Cliina, called 

 Alyxia aromalica. 



The specimens sent by the French colonies are altogether very in- 

 teresting and extremely well arranged. 



Austria makes a fair display of toilet soaps, the colours of which are 

 very good, but they generally contain too large a proportion of cocoa-nut 

 oil, a fault common to all German soaps. Cocoa-nut is largely used by 

 German soap-makers, because it improves the appearance and the lather, 

 and takes up more alkali than any other fatty substance, thereby dimi- 

 nishing considerably the cost price of soap ; but it has the serious incon- 

 venience of leaving a persistent fetid smell to the skin after washing with 

 it. Some Austrian manufacturers exhibit various combinations of 

 glycerine with soap and other toilet preparations. One of them shows a 

 very good sample of transparent soap, said to contain twenty-four per 

 cent, of glycerine, and a liquid soap with forty per cent, of it. The 

 alcoholic perfumes exhibited in the Austrian department are generally 

 inferior. 



The Zollverein has a large number of exhibitors of perfumery, but 

 few that call for any particular notice. There are no less than twelve 

 manufacturers of eau-de-Cologne, seven of whom exhibit under the name 

 of Farina, although it is asserted that there is but one house (that opposite 

 the Julichs Platz), who can lay real claim to the name. 



The toilet soaps exhibited are extremely varied in colours and shapes 

 (some of the latter indeed being more fanciful than delicate), but they 

 arc all spoiled by an excess of cocoa-nut oil, which can be easily tested 

 by applying the tongue to the soap, or by rubbing it briskly in the palm 

 of the hand. It is to be hoped that the Germans will turn their attention 

 to this very serious defect in their soaps, and will endeavour to render 

 them more fit to be used by psople of refined tastes. Even as regards 

 price, there is no real advantage gained by employing cocoa-nut oil, for 

 if it takes up more alkali, it naturally follows that the soap made with 

 it wastes away faster than any other, so that its apparent cheapness is a 

 deception. 



The alcoholic perfumes and toilet preparations exhibited in the Zoll- 

 verein, with the exception of eau-de-Cologne, are not equal in quality to 

 those of French or English makers. They have also the great fault of 

 being most servile imitations of the Paris and London articles. 



Italy sends a good collection of essential oils, mostly of the citrine 



