July i, 1891,] 
THE T8DF?GAl. AGRSOll LTO RSST» 
he does not wiah hia piaeious stones to sparkle — dis- 
tracting She eye. The Hindoo's ootion even in oaUing 
gems, IS to make them shiue. Oar self-snffici6Doy at- 
tributes to iguosance or wiint of skill an effect which 
in truth, ie Ihs resalt of a taste more delicate and 
finished than ours. We think that the Orieutsl 
wonld have brilliauks aud rosae, and the reat, if 
he oonld— a grotesque error. Everybody nowadays, or. 
almost everybody, is prepared to langh at th« vurdict 
ot the jury delivered after the Great Exhibition of 
1851. " To cast ft glsnoe »t the jewellery of India," 
said that amusing record, " is enough to convince us 
that those nations have remsiusd stationery from a 
very early period of mannfaeture. Some of them, 
indeed, develop ideas full of grace and originality, but 
their productions are always immature and imperfect; 
and the skill of the workman is called in to make 
amends fot the iuudequateueas of the manufacturing 
process." The Philistine never made a more strik- 
ing declaration of faith. We have left that a long 
way bi'hind, anyhow. When precious stones generally 
lose their value it may be hoped that we shall take a 
greater stride for jewellery than will show not so 
much the length ot the buvers purse as the qunlity 
of his taste. — St. James's Budget. 
THE PERFUME INDUSTRY AT GRASSE. 
In an article on " Qrasse and ils'Perfume Industry," 
published in the Pictorial World of April 18th some 
account of the old tovjn is given, with views of the Grand 
Hotel, where the Qaeen has been staying, the cathe- 
dral, and some ot the scenery in the neighbourhood. 
The proprietors of the Pictorial Jf^orld have been good 
enough to lend ua one of the engravings, representing 
an interesting scene in oue of tlie large ptrfnme- 
faotories ot the place. The women ehowu in the picture 
are all engaged in separating the pistils from the 
petals of roses previous to using the latter lor "rose 
pomade." The photograph from which the vieiv was 
taken and the following particulars were supplied to 
the Pictorial World by Mr. J. E. ifoldswor'.h, son of a 
member of the wellknown firm of Osborne, Eauer & 
Cheeeeman, the perfumers of Golden Squar-:-. M.. 
Holdsworth, junr,, it is ttatod, hag had tne opportu- 
nity of becoming practically acquainted v^'ith the 
subject, having stuuied the manulacture of fural pjo- 
ducts at M. Bruno-Oourt's factory. 
There are processes for extraotiug perfume from 
flowers ; the hot proces?, or maceration ; the cold pro- 
cesg, or enjieurage ; and distillation by steam. 
The hot process consists in throwing the flowers into 
hot grease directly they are picked; after a given time 
they are strained ofE, but as they take up euoh a 
quantity of grease, they are wrapped up in cloths and 
pressed by hydraulic pressure. Every day fresh flowers 
are put into the same pomade, until it is at full con- 
centration. 
In the cold process the flowers are laid on cold 
pomade, which is spread on pieces of glass, about two 
feet square, in a wooden frame; the glass is covered 
with pomade on both sides, and the frames are stacked 
one upon the other, thus making a kind of box which 
fibs so well that it is almost air-tight. This process is 
also continued until full concentration is obtained. 
The floral season oommencea in January with the 
violet, the perfume of which is extracted by the hot 
process. Next follows the joiiquil in March, from which 
the perfume is extracted by means of the cold process. 
From the middle of April until the commencement of 
May comes the reseda, or mignonette. Then in iilay 
commences the busy season for Grasse ; women and 
children are employed in all the factories to pick the 
pistils from the rose-leaves, as the latter are only used 
for the " floral pomade.'' 
The leaves are thrown into baskets, and are at oace 
treated by the hot proceas ; and this is continued until 
the middle ot June. The orange-flower blooms the 
eame time as the rose, and is treated in the fame way. 
What surprises the stranger most is the enormous 
quantity of bloom ; it ia not spoken of by the pound, 
bat by the tQli. The work of picking makes a.long day's 
labour; as it is essential that the flowero should be 
treated while they are perfectly iresh, it is necessary 
to commence work as early as four o'clock in the 
morning, and to continue sometimes uutil niidnight. 
From July to September come the jasmine and 
tuberose, which are treated by the cold prociss ; and 
the season closes with caesie in December, treated by 
the hot procers. 
The third process, dietillf tion, is carried on all the 
year. There are only two out of all the flowers men- 
tioned that are thus distilled; they are the rose and 
orange-flower. The rose gives very little otto of roses, 
but is distilled mainly also for the "rose-water"; the 
orange-flower gives an oil called " neroli " and orange- 
flower water. Whea the abovemeutioned flowers 
are not in season patchouli leaves, cioveB, geranium, 
&c., are also treated by distillation. 
During the Queeu'a visit to Grasse she has visited 
the factories of M. Bruuo-Oourt and of M. Chiris. At 
the works of M, Ohirie the last of the violets and 
jonquils which will be used this year had just been 
received, and before the Queen arriTed, the floors ot 
the quadracgle and the rooms to be visited had been 
carpeted with tbem. The Queen saw in operation 
the prooesfes of capturing these odours, aud as Her 
Majesty left M, Chirlis presented a basket of perfumes 
beautifully displayed in a bed of violets and decorated 
with apple-green ribbons and Mareeohal Niel rosea,— 
Chemist and Druggist. 
SPURIOUS CUBEBS. 
We had our attention called some weeks ago to 
the offer of an Amsterdam firm to supply to Euglish 
houses "spurious cubebs tor duggists' use," .says the 
Chemist and Druggist. We have been fortunate in 
securing a sample of these, and of three kinds for 
distillation. Of the lat;ter, sample a consisted of ex- 
tremely small and shrivelled barrels ot a black color, 
mixed witli stislks, most of which were smooth aud 
some showed the charMcterihfcic markings of the piper 
rachis. The sampie coiitaineil 100 giains of stalk 
r-nd 440 grains i f berry, Tiae latter was very defloieus 
in aroraa, and U' i.k^j itncjature cubeba, did i.Ow give 
ihe crimson colureri ioaction with, sulphuric acid. The 
impre.>3ijn left fum tuo examination o; this sample 
was thac the bea'ies had already been m the still: 
were the feeble aroma due to immaturity, ,ve cbould 
have expected to got a better cuheb in reacl:0!j. 
Against this supposition it may, however, be stated 
that last week 60 bags of similar berries were disposed 
ot in Mincing Lane. These were of direct import 
from Singapore. Samples b and c were recognised 
as true oubebs, differing only in propurtion of stalk, 
aud c showed the presence of a small percentage of 
the unnamed cnbeb substitute which is more globular 
and larger than the true berry, but is not Piptr 
crassipes. Sample h corituinea 206 grains of stalk, 
ctiiefly bold racuis, to 360 grains of berry. The sam- 
ple was rich in essential oil. Sampie c contained 
130 grains of very bold rachis to 300 grains of berry 
less abundant iu oii than the former. Sample d, 
" spurious for druggists' UKe," was the fruit, ot P;pHr 
crassipes. Apart from the queesion of admixture 
with spurious fruit, the proporiion of stalk is a 
matter which diatillers should look icto more care- 
ludy than they do. Oubebs yield from 12 to 16 per 
cent, of essential oil, aud the stalks only 1 pir cent 
— frequently less. While their p.e>:ence is not 
objectionable, the fact that to the eye snmple c con- 
tained less than b, while it actua ly showed about 6 
per cent, more, is a sufficient argument for more 
careiul consideration on the part of buyers. The 
question also naturally arises '-Do all th, se stalky 
cububs go into ibe sti!!, or may some not find their 
way into the mill T' That can only be determined 
by microscopic examination of the commercial powder, 
aud comparison with the histological characters of 
cubeb stalks. It may be mentioned that whit we 
h.'ive estimated as the best of the three distillation 
samples was the lowest priced. We learn regarding 
