PERFUMES: THEIR SOURCE AXD EXTRACTION. 



187 



Immense strides have been made during recent years in the prepara- 

 tion of odorous bodies synthetically. I do not, of course, propose to refer 

 to technical details of preparation of these bodies, but I will give some 

 short account of those bodies which appear to be fairly satisfactory 

 substitutes for those they represent. 



Artificial Musk. — There are several kinds of artificial musk, not one 

 of which, however, absolutely represents the actual odoriferous con- 

 stituent of natural musk. Nearly all the synthetic products are nitro- 

 deiivatives of benzene hydrocarbons. The odorous constituent of the 

 original " Muse Baur " was the trinitro- derivative of tertiary butyl xylene. 



Vanillin, or methyl-proto-catechuic aldehyde, is the active odorous 

 constituent of the vanilla pod, in which it occurs to the extent of about 

 two per cent. It has been artificially prepared from the glucoside, 

 coniferin, which is found in various coniferous woods. A later method of 

 manufacture is by the oxidation of eugenol, the chief constituent of oil 

 of cloves. 



Coumarin, the aromatic constituent of the Tonquin bean, and 

 possessing the delightful fragrance of new-mown hay, is produced 

 synthetically from salicylic aldehyde by the action of acetic anhydride in 

 presence of sodium acetate. 



Hcliotropin, or pepironal, is the methylene ether of proto-catechuic 

 aldehyde. It was originally made from the alkaloid piperine contained 

 in white pepper by boiling with caustic alkali and oxidising with 

 potassium permanganate. It is usually manufactured from safrol, a 

 constituent of Japanese camphor oil, by oxidation with chromic acid. 



Aubepiji (hawthorn or May blossom) is anisic aldehyde. It can be 

 prepared by oxidising aniseed oil, or from phenol by a series of reactions. 



lonone (artificial violet) is produced by the action of alkalies on a 

 mixture of citral and acetone in the presence of water. The products 

 of the reaction are extracted with ether and fractionally distilled. 



Artificial Neroli. — Nerolin crystals consist of the methyl ether of 

 beta-naphthol, prepared by heating beta-naphthol with methyl alcohol and 

 sulphuric acid for several hours under low pressure Synthetic neroli 

 oil is a mixture of various bodies, the chief constituent of which is the 

 methyl ester of anthranilic acid. This may be obtained from aceto- 

 orthotoluidine by oxidation. 



Terpineol (artificial lilac) may be prepared from terpin hydrate, a 

 body obtained from oil of turpentine. Another process consists in treating 

 pinene with acetic acid in the presence of zinc chloride and decomposing 

 the terpineol acetate so obtained by saponifying with caustic alkalies. 



Distilled icaters derived from various flowers are probably familiar 

 to all of you, the waters being used for toilet purposes, and also at 

 banquets, &c. The blossoms principally used are those of the rose and 

 orange, and for the distillation of these the whole of the flower, pistils, 

 and petals are used. 



The usual method of operation is to produce an equal weight of 

 distillate to the flowers employed— that is to say, take a load of 500 kilos. 

 (10 cwt.) of flowers for a still — add 600 kilos. (12 cwt.) of water, and 

 then to obtain by distillation a quantity of 500 litres (110 gallons), 

 leaving 100 litres (22 gallons) to prevent the flowers from burning in the 



