148 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



sufferer. Then we might adopt with advantage over the doors 

 and windows of hospital or sick-room alike the perfumed cur- 

 tains or awnings of fragrant grass called "cuscus tatties" in 

 the East. These are now and then sprayed with water from a 

 syringe, and the evaporation or the grateful odour, or perhaps 

 both, cools and sweetens the room at the same time. Mrs. 

 Earle, in that charming work 11 Pot-pourri from a Surrey 

 Garden," tells us she places dried leaves of Verbena, Lavender, 

 and sweet-scented Geraniums in bags, and places them under 

 and behind the cushions of her chairs, much to the enjoyment 

 of her visitors, who wonder from whence the delicate perfume 

 comes. In the East it is a common practice to place bags of 

 lime, or orange leaves and lemon-grass under the mats near the 

 doors, so that the pressure of each one entering aids uncon- 

 sciously in perfuming the rooms. In Borneo I saw the girls of 

 the villages wrappiug or coiling their glossy black hair well 

 oiled around Jasmine or Champac flowers, so that by this 

 personal enfleurage their coiffure was a sweet one next morn- 

 ing. I believe also that by their thus perfuming themselves 

 they to a large extent escape malarial fevers, so common in 

 low-lying tropical regions. 



Benefit of Perfumes for Burning. 



Professor Mantegazza, of the Institute of Lombardy, long 

 ago poiuted out that the burning of perfumes or incense, such 

 as benzoin, in sick-houses, or hospitals, or churches was a 

 practice based on common sense. If this burning merely dis- 

 guised or masked insanitary odours, we might not reap much 

 material benefit by the practice. But the burning creates or 

 assists ventilation and oxidisation, and then acids are produced 

 that neutralise the effects of bacteria or of foul air, while the 

 aromatic fumes given off are inimical and preventitive of infection, 

 being often fatal to bacterial life. 



Essential Oils versus Bacteria. 

 Those who wish to go further afield in their inquiries as to 

 the beneficial influence of essential oils versus bacteria should 

 consult Sternberg's "Text-book of Bacteriology," p. 199 et seq. 

 Professor Chamberlain has made extensive experiments in order 

 to prove the antiseptic powers of the vapours of volatile vege- 



