April 1, 1865.] THE TECHNOLOGIST. 



FLOWERS AND PLANTS. 60V 



the same result at a much less cost. The finest is made with English 

 oil, and the common with French, which is considerably cheaper, but is 

 easily distinguished by its coarse flavour. 



Perfumes for the handkerchief are composed in various ways: the 

 best are made by infusing in alcohol the pomades or oils obtained by 

 the processes I have just described. This alcoholate possesses the true 

 scent of the flowers entirely free from the empyreumatic smell inherent 

 in all essential oils ; as, however, there are but six or seven flowers 

 which yield pomades and oils, the perfumer has to combine these 

 together to imitate all other flowers. This may be called the truly 

 artistic part of perfumery ; for it is done by studying resemblances and 

 affinities, and blending the shades of scent as a painter does the colours 

 on his palette. Thus, for instance, no s perfume is extracted from the 

 heliotrope, but as it has a strong vanilla flavour, by using vanilla as a 

 base with other ingredients to give it freshness, a perfect imitation is 

 produced, and so on with many others. 



The most important branch of the perfumer's art is the manufacture 

 of toilet soaps. They are generally made from the best tallow soaps, 

 which are remelted, purified, and scented. They can also be made by 

 what is called the cold process, which consists in combining grease with 

 a fixed dose of lees. It offers a certain advantage to perfumers for pro- 

 ducing a delicately-scented soap, by enabling them t® use as a base a 

 pomade instead of fat, which could not be done with the other process, 

 as the heat would destroy the fragrance. This soap, however, requires 

 being kept for some time before it is used, in order that the saponifica- 

 tion may become complete. Soft soap, known as shaving, cream, is 

 obtained by substituting potash for soda lees, and transparent soap by 

 combining soda-soap with alcohol. Another sort of transparent soap 

 has been produced lately by incorporating glycerine into it, in the pro- 

 portion of about one-third to two-thirds of soap. 



The English toilet soaps are the very best that are made ; the French 

 come next, but as they are not remelted they never acquire the softness 

 of ours. The German soaps are the very worst that are manufactured ; 

 the cocoa-nut oil which invariably forms their basis leaves a strong 

 foetid smell on the hands, and their very cheapness is a deception, for 

 as cocoa-nut oil takes up twice as much alkali as any other fatty 

 substance, the soap produced with it wastes away in a very short time. 

 , Cosmetics, pomatums, washes, dentifrices, and other toilet requisites 

 are also largely manufactured, but they are too numerous to be described 

 here at length, nor shall I attempt to descant on their respective 

 merits, which depend, in a great measure, upon the skill of the operator, 

 and the fitness and purity of the materials used. The greatest improve- 

 ment effected in these preparations lately has been the introduction 

 of glycerine. Although this substance was discovered in the last 

 century, it is only a few years since medical men fully recognised and 

 appreciated its merits, and applied it to the cure of skin diseases, for 



