PERFUMES: THEIR SOURCE AND EXTRACTION. 



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PERFUMES: THEIR SOURCE AND EXTRACTION. 

 By JoHxN C. Umney, F.C.S. 

 [Lecture given on September 25, 190G.] 



Eaely History. 



Perfumes have been used from the very earliest times, but in the 

 first instance they appear to have been used in connection with religious 

 ceremonies. There are very ancient references to the use of perfumes, 

 and the presentation of an alabaster box of perfume by Cambyses, son 

 of Cyrus, to a prince of Ethiopia is recorded in Herodotus (about 

 430 B.C.). There is also recorded the fact that the Scythians made a 

 perfumed vapour-bath by burning hemp seeds upon red-hot stones. 



Scriptural allusions are num'erous, amongst them being a reference 

 in Exod. xxx. 23-38 to perfumes as an incense and ointment in the 

 services of the Tabernacle, while iu the Book of Daniel (Dan. ii. 46) 

 the practice of fumigating rooms and the sprinkling of guests with 

 rose water, as a compliment, is also mentioned. 



There are other references to the use of perfumes, more especially 

 to counteract offensive smells in hot climates. All such perfumes, how- 

 ever, appear to have been derived from resins and gum resins, and not to 

 have been the products of flowers. 



It might, perhaps, be well to mention, incidentally, that the aloe of 

 the Bible is not the medicinal aloe, but the lign aloe, a resinous wood 

 with a very powerful scent. 



Neither must it.be supposed that all the Scriptural references to spices 

 imply those having an agreeable odour, &c. There is every reason to 

 suppose that the reference in many instances to the "carrying of spices " 

 is to the gum known as tragacanth. 



A great many allusions to perfumes will be familiar to you in the 

 works of Shakespeare —interesting, perhaps, because the majority of 

 them are rather to animal perfumes than to those derived from flowers. 

 There can be no question that during the Elizabethan period, and even 

 later, heavy clinging perfumes were in fashion, which are now practically 

 discarded. 



The many references to civet — (see " Much Ado about Nothing," 

 act iii. scene ii., " He rubs himself with civet ; can you smell him out 

 by that? " " As You Like It," act iii., scene ii., where Touchstone says, 

 " Learn of the wise and perpend ; Civet is of a baser birth than tar ; the 

 very uncleanly flux of a cat ") — show that taste in perfumes differed very 

 considerably. Now, I think no one would be likely to say, as King 

 Lear does (act iv. scene vi.), " Give me an ounce of civet, good 

 apothecary, to sweeten my imagination." 



That the delicate perfume of the violet was well appreciated is shown 

 by the pretty reference in " King John " (act iv. scene ii.) : " To throw a 

 perfume on the violet . . . is wasteful and ridiculous excess " — an opinion 

 probably endorsed by many here to-day. 



