FRAGRANT LEAVES V. SWEET-SCENTED FLOWERS. 147 



bergamot, with a few sage leaves and rosemary and lavender 

 cut small ; keep in pretty jars and add lavender water if it 

 becomes too dry. 



The Study of Vegetable Odours. 



I do not know of any other subject so worthy of study as this 

 intricate one of odours or perfumes. We ought to educate our 

 noses better than we do. The nose is really a sensitive organ, 

 placed as a sentinel at the very entrance or gate-house of the 

 lungs ; and if our noses are not alert and faithful we lay ourselves 

 open to all sorts of diseases or ills that flesh is heir to. The 

 odours or essential oils of plants are essentially antiseptic, and 

 the wonder is that pathologists have neglected their health - 

 yielding virtues so long. We have had Pfarrer Kneipp with 

 his wonderful water cure ; we have had the grape cure ; and 

 I hope soon that some clever specialist will start a hospital or 

 " scent cure," in which sweet odours will play a part not inferior 

 to other medicants that act only on the stomach, and leave the 

 lungs to do the best they can alone. 



Perfumes and Temperature. 

 The late Professor Tyndall made a series of very elaborate 

 experiments as to the absorption of heat by odorous vapours. 

 Their action is enormous in this direction as compared with 

 that of pure (i.e. unscented) atmospheric air ; and it was found 

 that the least energetic of the odours employed, viz. patchouli, 

 had thirty times the cooling effect of fresh air, and that of the 

 most energetic, viz. cassia, had actually 109 times the effect. 





Absorption 





Absorption 



Perfumes 



per 100 



Perfumes 



per 100 



Patchouli 



. 30-0 



Lavender 



. 60-0 



Santal . 



. 32-0 



Lemon . 



. 65-0 



Geranium 



. 33-0 



Portugal 



. 67-0 



Oil of Cloves . 



. 33-5 



Thyme . 



. 68-0 



Attar of Hoses 



. 36-5 



Losemary 



. 74-0 



Bergamot 



. 44-0 



Oil of Laurel 



. 80-0 



Neroli 



. 47-0 



Cassia . 



. 109-0 



Floral and Leaf Odours Antiseptic. 



One good effect gained by diffusion of perfumes by the burn- 

 ing of fragrant herbs, or gum resins, in the hot and too often 

 stuffy wards of hospitals in summer time would be the banish- 

 ment of the flies that too often fret and irritate the restless 



