ON  THE  MANUFACTURES  OF  GRASSES  AND  CANNES.  551 
by  a  naked  fire  ;  they  are  mostly,  if  not  all,  of  small  size,  com- 
pared with  the  great  stills  used  in  this  country.  Their  small 
capacity  is,  however,  compensated  by  their  numbers,  some  manu- 
facturers having  a  dozen  and  others  twice  that  number.  In  one 
operation  which  I  saw  in  progress,  the  charge  of  the  still  with 
leaves  of  the  Bigarade  Orange  was  about  80  lbs. 
In  addition  to  the  manufacture  of  essential  oils,  an  important 
branch  of  industry  consists  in  the  preparation  of  scented  fatty 
oils  and  pomades.  These  are  prepared  by  one  of  two  processes, 
called  respectively  Infusion  and  Enfleurage. 
Infusion  consists,  as  the  name  implies,  in  infusing  the  substance 
whose  odor  is  to  be  extracted,  in  a  mixture  of  lard  and  beef-fat 
melted  in  a  water-bath,  or  in  warm  olive  oil.  The  chief  sub- 
stances thus  treated  are  the  flowers  of  the  Rose,  Cassie,  Bitter 
Orange  and  Yiolet.  Mignonette  is  also  sometimes  subjected  to 
this  process.  The  flowers  aVe  immersed  entire,  except  in  the 
case  of  Orange  Flowers,  which  are  previously  bruised.  After 
immersion  in  the  fatty  menstruum  for  a  requisite  period,  the 
mixture  is  strained  off  and  the  residue  pressed.  The  pomade  is 
preserved  in  large  metal  vessels,  some  of  which  have  a  capacity 
of  300  kilogrammes. 
The  process  of  Enfleurage  is  resorted  to  in  extracting  the  odor 
of  the  flowers  of  Tuberose,  Jessamine,  and  Mignonette.  The 
apparatus  required  is  merely  a  number  of  shallow  wooden  frames 
of  about  18  by  15  inches,  enclosing  at  half  their  depth  a  sheet 
of  glass.  The  edges  of  the  frames  rise  about  an  inch  above  each 
surface  of  the  glass,  and  being  flat,  the  frames  stand  securely 
one  upon  another,  forming  often  considerable  stacks.  The 
technical  name  for  the  frames  is  Chassis :  those  just  described 
are  called  Chassis  aux  vitres,  or  Chassis  aux  pommades,  to  distin- 
guish them  from  a  different  form,  which  is  used  where  oil  has  to 
be  submitted  to  the  process  of  Enfleurage.  The  process  in  the 
case  of  pomade  is  thus  conducted :  the  unscented  fat  (which  has 
about  the  consistence  of  spermaceti  ointment,)  is  weighed  into 
portions,  each  sufficient  for  one  side  of  the  sheet  of  glass  of  a 
chassis.  It  is  then  spread  over  the  glass  with  a  spatula  in 
a  layer  hardly  a  tenth  of  an  inch  thick,  care  being  taken  by  em- 
ploying a  little  inner  frame  during  the  spreading,  that  the  fat  does 
not  come  in  contact  with  the  woodwork  of  the  chassis.  One  surface 
