PERFUMES: THEIR SOURCE AND EXTRACTION. 125 



climate and better conditions, it was transferred to the French Riviera, 

 principally to Cannes and Grasse. 



The town of Grasse (fig. 23), which is the centre of this industry and 

 faces due south, is beautifully situated, and the place that was once called 

 " a small village near Cannes " is now one of the most important places 

 in the Riviera. 



It has been stated that Grasse owes its elevated situation to the 

 depredations of the Moors on the sea coast, which drove the inhabitants 

 to seek a position inland. Anyhow it is a matter of history, that 700 

 years ago it was a tiny republic, and had the honour of being in alliance 

 with Genoa. 



Classification of Flowees for Perfumery. 



The flowers which are used may be divided into two classes :— 



1. Those, like the rose and orange, which contain their perfume 

 practically quite complete, and which can be extracted by maceration or 

 distillation. 



2. Flowers, Hke jasmine and tuberose, which contain only an insig- 

 nificant amount of perfume, which they continue to develop and emit. 



For the latter it will be obvious that a process which preserves the 

 life of the flower, and extracts the perfume emitted, is the one best 

 adapted. Passy has shown by actual proof that, operating on 1,000 kilos. 

 ( 2,200 lb.) of freshly plucked jasmine blossoms, only 178 grammes 

 (6| oz.) of essential oil was obtained by distillation, 191 grammes (7 oz.) 

 by a process of extraction to which I shall shortly refer, while by 

 enfleurage 1,784 grammes (4 lb.) of oil was obtained from the fat 

 used for the enfleurage, 195 grammes (7 oz.) remaining in the blossoms. 

 Indeed these experiments would seem to show that nine times as much 

 oil of jasmine is produced as is contained in the first instance in the 

 plucked petals. 



Elaboration of Perfumes in Plants. 



A Yery complete series of experiments has been conducted by Charabot 

 with regard to the elaboration of perfumes in plants ; and although in 

 this paper it is not possible to give details of these experiments some 

 reference to them is certainly not out of place. 



Charabot's observations have been made upon the effect of advancing 

 vegetation on the oils of peppermint and basil. There appears to be no 

 doubt that the essential oil is produced in the chlorophyll-bearing parts, 

 and that, as a rule, essential oil derived from those chlorophyll-bearing 

 parts is richer in esters (usually the soft odorous constituents of essential 

 oils), and becomes richer as vegetation advances. 



Suppression of inflorescence was found by him to cause an accumu- 

 lation of the oil in the green parts. The flowers as they develop become 

 richer in water, the petals containing a higher proportion of water 

 than the rest of the organs. The actual amount of volatile acidity 

 increases in a flower during its blooming, but it actually diminishes 

 in percentage owing to the increase of water. During the fuller develop- 

 ment of the flower the essential oil becomes richer in esters and in 

 alcohols. 



