278 
VARIETIES. 
few  days.  Finally  cooled,  it  is  the  cassie  pomade  of  commerce.  The  JSuile 
de  Cassie,  or  fat  oil  of  cassie,  is  prepared  in  a  similar  manner,  substituting 
the  oil  of  Egyptian  ben  nut,  olive  oil,  or  almond  oil,  in  place  of  suet.  Both 
these  preparations  are  obviously  only  a  solution  of  the  true  essential  oil  of 
cassie  flowers  in  the  neutral  fatty  body.  Europe  may  shortly  be  expecting 
to  import  a  similar  scented  pomade  from  South  Australia,  derived  from  the 
wattle,  a  plant  that  belongs  to  the  same  genus  as  the  A.  farnesiana,  and 
which  grows  most  luxuriantly  in  Australia.  Mutton  fat  being  cheap,  and 
the  wattle  plentiful,  a  profitable  trade  may  be  anticipated  in  curing  the 
flowers.  &c. 
To  prepare  the  extract  of  cassie,  take  six  pounds  of  No.  24  (best  quality) 
cassie  pomade,  and  place  upon  it  one  gallon  of  the  best  rectified  spirit,  as 
sent  out  by  Bowerbank,  of  Bishopsgate.  After  it  has  digested  for  three 
weeks  or  a  month,  at  a  summer  heat,  it  is  fit  to  draw  from  the  pomatum, 
and,  if  good,  has  a  beautiful  green  color,  and  rich  flowery  smell  of  the  cassie 
blossom.  All  extracts  made  by  this  process — maceration,  or  as  it  may  be 
called,  cold  infusion,  give  a  more  natural  smell  of  the  flowers  to  the  result, 
than  by  merely  dissolving  the  essential  oil  (procured  by  distillation)  in  the 
spirit ;  moreover,  where  the  odor  of  the  flower  exists  in  only  very  minute 
quantities,  as  in  the  present  instance,  and  with  violet,  jasmine,  &c,  it  is 
the  only  practical  mode  of  proceeding. 
In  this,  and  all  other  similar  cases,  the  pomatum  must  be  cut  up  into 
very  small  pieces,  after  the  domestic  manner  of  "  chopping  suet,"  prior  to 
its  being  infused  in  the  alcohol.  The  action  of  the  mixture  is  simply  a 
change  of  place  in  the  odoriferous  matter,  which  leaves  the  fat  body  by  the 
superior  attraction,  or  affinity,  as  the  chemists  say,  of  the  spirits  of  wine, 
in  which  it  freely  dissolves. 
The  major  part  of  the  extract  can  be  poured  or  drawn  off  the  pomatum 
without  trouble,  but  it  still  retains  a  portion  in  the  interstices,  which  re- 
quires time  to  drain  away,  and  this  must  be  assisted  by  placing  the  poma- 
tum in  a  large  funnel,  supported  by  a  bottle,  in  order  to  collect  the  re- 
mainder. Finally,  all  the  pomatum,  which  is  now  called  washed  pomatum, 
is  to  be  put  into  a  tin,  which  tin  must  be  set  into  hot  water,  for  the  purpose 
of  melting  its  contents  ;  when  the  pomatum  thus  becomes  liquefied,  any  ex- 
tract that  is  still  in  it  rises  to  the  surface,  and  can  be  skimmed  off. 
The  washed  pomatum  is  preserved  for  use  in  the  manufacture  of  dressing 
for  the  hair,  for  which  purpose  it  is  exceedingly  well  adapted,  on  account 
of  the  purity  of  the  grease  from  which  it  was  originally  prepared,  but  more 
particularly  on  account  of  a  certain  portion  of  odor  which  it  still  retains, 
and  were  it  not  used  up  in  this  way,  it  would  be  advisable  to  put  for  a 
second  infusion  in  spirit,  and  thus  a  weaker  extract  could  be  made  service- 
able for  lower  priced  articles. 
Not  wishing  to  make  unnecessary  observations  upon  this,  or  any  other 
substance  treated  of,  for  the  mere  purpose  of  writing,  and  thus  to  "  make  a 
