THE TECHNOLOGIST. [April 1, 1865. 



392 THE COMMERCIAL USES OP 



adulterate the musk before they send it to Europe, we are not exposed 

 to such accidents. The substances used for this adulteration are gene- 

 rally the blood or chopped 

 liver of the animal, which 

 they cleverly insert into the 

 pod, or sometimes pieces of 

 lead are introduced to in- 

 crease the weight. Some 

 even manufacture artificial 

 pods from the belly-skin, and 

 fill them with a mixture of 

 musk and other materials. 

 Musk in pods is generally 

 imported in caddies of twenty 

 ounces in weight, and the 

 Musk-Pod (Natural Size). price of it varies from 25s. to 



50s. per ounce, according to 

 quality. Grain musk, which is the musk extracted from the pods, is 

 much dearer. Musk is, without any exception, the strongest and most 

 durable of all known perfumes, and is in consequence largely used in 

 compounds, its presence, when not too perceptible, producing a very 

 agreeable effect. 



The odour of musk is not confined to this species of animal ; . it is 

 also to be found, though in a less degree, in others — such as the musk- 

 ox, the musk-rat, the musk-duck, &c. Mr. Chief-Justice Temple, of 

 British Honduras, who presided at the Society of Arts when I read my 

 paper " On Perfumery," assured the meeting that the glands of alligators 

 had a strong musky odour ; and, wishing to ascertain the fact, I pro- 

 cured, through the kindness of my friend, Mr. Edward Grey, of the 

 Eoyal Mail Steam Navigation Company, the head of one of these 

 monsters ; but I must say that, when the case was opened, the stench it 

 diffused was so great that it required some little amount of courage to 

 extract the glands, and the perfume they seemed to possess was strongly 

 suggestive of Billingsgate market on a hot day. Some polypi, and, 

 among others, the Tipula moschifera, which is found in the Mediter- 

 ranean, and principally at Nice, give out a musky smell, but of a very 

 evanescent nature. 



The musky fragrance likewise occurs in some vegetables, such as 

 the well known yellow-flowered niusk-plant, but its intensity is not 

 sufficient for extraction. The definition moschatus (musky) is often 

 applied to plants and flowers, but it must not always be taken in its 

 literal sense, for botanists are apt to distinguish by this name strong 

 scents, such as the nutmeg, which is termed Myristica moschata, although 

 it bears no resemblance to musk. The so-called musk-seed itself 

 (Hibiscus abelmoschus) is much more bike civet than musk. Dr. Cloquet 

 pretends that some preparations of gold and other mineral substances 



