134 
Essential  Oil  Industry  in  Grasse. 
(Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
i     March,  1885. 
cipal  constituent,  in  this  case  myristic  acid.  In  Grasse  "  beurre  d'iris'^ 
is  valued  at  1,500  to  1,800  francs  the  kilo.  It  is  noteworthy  that  the 
local  manufacturers  draw  their  supplies  of  raw  material  from  Florence 
and  Verona,  whilst  there  cannot  be  the  remotest  doubt  that  Iris  ger- 
manica  and  other  species  of  Iris  flourish  equally  as  well  on  the  moun- 
tains and  hills  of  Basse-Provence  as  in  the  fields  ol  Tuscany  or  at 
Verona.  In  this  case,  however,  also  there  is  no  necessity  to  give  up 
the  old  custom,  which  is  indeed  carried  so  far  that  in  no  case  is  the 
Iris  germanica,  abundant  in  the  district,  made  use  of. 
Besides  the  wholesale  distillation  of  orange  flowers  and  roses,  some 
other  aromatic  plants  are  occasionally  worked  up  when  required,  though 
not  to  any  very  great  extent.  But  another  source  of  considerable 
revenue  is  the  manufacture  of  pommades''  and  ^'  extracts.''  In  this 
extensive  branch  of  industry  the  essential  oil  is  utilized  from  flowers 
containing  it  only  in  very  small  quantity.  Among  these  are  (1)  the 
bigarade  orange  flowers,  and  (2)  roses.  In  the  following  the  essential 
oil  is  present  in  so  minute  a  quantity  that  it  is  scarcely  practicable  to 
obtain  it  by  distillation. 
(3)  .  Cassie. — This  is  the  name  given  by  the  French  to  the  elegant 
yellow  flower-heads  of  the  Acacia  Farnesiana,  Willd.,  a  small  tree 
which  first  reached  the  Farnese  gardens  at  Rome  from  the  West  Indies 
and  Central  America.  The  fine  odor  of  the  flowers  brought  about  its 
introduction  into  Provence,  which  it  appears  did  not  take  place,  at 
least  for  industrial  purposes,  until  1825.^  At  present  "cassie,''  is 
cultivated  very  carefully  and  on  a  large  scale  throughout  the  entire 
district  between  Canne  and  Grasse.  The  plantations  are  usually  the 
property  of  the  manufacturers  or  other  landed  proprietors  and  are 
worked  by  lessees,  the  terms  being  the  simple  and  ])rimitive  arrange- 
ment of  sharing  the  proceeds  with  the  proprietors.  This  system  extends 
in  this  country  to  other  perfumery  plants,  as  well  as  to  the  olive. 
(4)  .  Jasmin.  —The  fields  near  Grasse  are  generally  planted  with 
Jasmimim  officinale,  L.,  which  was  probably  first  brought  to  Italy  from 
^  "  Apport6es  en  France  vers  I'annee,  1825"  (Guib.  Hist.  Dr.  iii,  1869), 
396.  Ricord-Madiana,  as  well  as  Bonastre,  attempted  in  1830  and  1831  the 
chemical  investigation  of  the  flowers  of  the  West  Indian  Acacia  Farnesiana^ 
though  without  any  result  worth  mentioning  {Journ.  Pharm  ,  xvi,  571  ; 
xvii,  419).  In  the  East  Indies  a  gum  exuding  from  the  stem  of  the  plant 
is  collected.  The  root  bark  is  said  to  have  a  very  strong  garlic-like  odor  ; 
it  therefore  probably  contains  an  allyl  compound.  (Fliickiger.  Pharm. 
i  hemic,  1879,  p.  65.) 
