346 
The  Violet  Perfume. 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
July,  1895. 
THE  VIOLET  PERFUME.  _ 
By  Henry  Kraemer. 
One  of  the  large  industries  of  the  world  requiring  a  vast  ex- 
penditure of  money  and  employing  some  of  the  most  ingenious 
and  educated  of  men,  is  the  industry  for  the  extraction  of  perfumes 
from  the  plants  and  animals  yielding  them.  It  may  be  further  said 
that  nothing,  probably,  has  contributed  more  to  the  welfare  and 
happiness  of  the  race  than  those  plants  of  pronounced  odors  and 
colors.  To  the  rich  and  poor,  alike,  they  have  come  at  times  laden 
with  the  unmistakable  signs  of  rest  and  hope.  By  the  beautiful  as 
well  as  homely,  they  have  been  utilized  for  their  power  of  adorn- 
ment. The  extent  of  their  influence  may  be  ascertained,  possibly, 
when  we  recall  that  the  beautiful  Countess  Eugenie  de  Montijo 
draped  her  gown  with  violets,  "  caught  "  the  Emperor  Napoleon  III 
and  mounted  a  throne. 
There  are  about  170  species  of  violets  known— but  two  or  three 
species  are  sweet-scented,  and  those  cultivated  for  their  perfume 
are  varieties  of  the  species,  Viola  odorata  Linne.  The  chief  locality 
for  the  cultivation  of  the  violet  in  large  quantities  is  on  the  shores 
of  the  Mediterranean  at  Grasse  and  Cannes.  The  seeds  of  the 
violet  are  planted  either  in  April  or  October  in  olive  groves 
in  order  to  protect  the  growing  plants  from  either  the  sun  in  sum- 
mer or  the  cold  in  winter.  In  from  4  to  6  weeks  the  flowers  appear 
and  they  are  then  picked  twice  a  week  in  the  morning.  In  the 
afternoon  these  flowers  are  delivered  to  the  factories  and  are  at  once 
treated  for  their  perfume.  Otherwise  if  the  flowers  are  allowed  to 
remain  too  long  on  the  plant,  or  subsequently  after  picking,  they 
lose  very  much  of  their  odor.  The  plant  is  exceedingly  delicate 
and  the  harvest  is  hence  very  subject  to  the  climatic  influences  and 
Sawer  records  the  suffering  to  the  extent  of  75  per  cent. 
Commercially  the  perfume  of  violet  is  extracted  by  the  cold  pro- 
cess of  "  enfleurage  "  and  subsequent  solution  in  deodorized  alcohol 
as  an  "  extrait."  The  real  "  violet  extrait  "  is  very  fine,  but  is  said 
to  be  rarely  obtained  pure,  as  that  retailed  consists  of  other  per- 
fumes, chiefly  that  of  the  Iris  rhizome.  This  leads  to  a  considera- 
tion of  so-called  "  Orris  Root,"  which  is  yielded  by  three  species  of 
Iris.  Formerly  the  rhizome  from  the  wild  plant  was  employed  ; 
today  it  is  said  that  the  cultivated  rhizome  is  much  more  profitably 
employed. 
