THE TECHNOLOGIST. [April 1, 1865. 



384 THE COMMERCIAL USE8 OF 



covered with lavender, rosemary, iris, and what they call " rosmarino " 

 {Lavandula stadias), all growing wild in the greatest luxuriance, and yet 

 they are left to " waste their sweets on desert air," for want of proper 

 labour and attention. I also found many aromatic plants in Portugal, 

 and among others one named " Alcrim do norte " (Diosma ericioides), 

 which has a delightful fragrance. 



From British India we import cassia, cloves, sandal-wood, patchouly, 

 and several essential oils of the Andropogon genus ; and the Celestial 

 Empire sends us the much-abused but yet indispensable musk, which, 

 carefully blended with other perfumes, gives them strength and piquancy 

 without being in any way offensive. 



It has been proposed to cultivate flowers in England for perfumery 

 purposes, but the climate renders this scheme totally impracticable. 

 English flowers, however beautiful in form and colour they may be, do 

 not possess the intensity of odour required for extraction, and the 

 greater part of those used in France for perfumery would only grow 

 here in hothouses. The only flower which might be had in abundance 

 would be the rose, but the smell of it is very faint compared with that 

 of the Southern rose, and the rose-water made in this country can never 

 equal the French in strength. If we add to this the shortness of the 

 flowering season, and the high price of land and labour, we may arrive 

 at the conclusion that such a speculation would be as bad as that of 

 attempting to make wine from English grapes. As a proof of this, I 

 may mention that I had a specimen submitted to me, not long since, of a 

 perfumed pomade which a lady had attempted to make on a flower- 

 farm which she had been induced do establish in the North of England, 

 and I regret to say it was a complete failure. 



The only two perfumery ingredients in which the English really 

 excel are lavender and peppermint, but that is owing to the very cause 

 which would militate against the success of other flowers in this 

 country ; for our moist and moderate climate gives those two plants the 

 mildness of fragrance for which they are prized, whilst in France and 

 other warm countries they grow strong and rank. 



There are four processes in use for extracting the aroma from fra- 

 grant substances— distillation, expression, maceration, and absorption. 



Distillation is employed for plants, barks, woods, and a few flowers. 

 (The mode of distillation was described in vol. iii., p. 173.) A great 

 improvement has lately been introduced in the mode of distillation : 

 it consists in suspending the flowers or plants in the still on a sort of 

 sieve, and allowing a jet of steam to pass through and carry off the 

 fragrant molecules. This produces a finer essential oil than allowing 

 those substances to be steeped in water at the bottom of the still. 



Expression is confined to the essences obtained from the rinds of the 

 fruits of the citron series, comprising lemon, orange, bergamot, cedrat, 

 and limette. It is performed in various ways : on the coast of Genoa 

 they rub the fruit against a grated funnel ; in Sicily they press the rind 



