180 
VARIETIES. 
Although  eau  de  Cologne  was  originally  introduced  to  the  pnblic  as  a 
sort  of  "  cure-all,"  a  regular  "  elixir  of  life  ;"  it  now  takes  its  place  not  as 
a  pharmaceutical  product,  but  among  perfumery.  Of  its  remedial  qualities 
we  can  say  nothing,  such  matter  being  irrelevant  to  the  purport  of  these 
articles.  Considered,  however,  as  a  perfume,  with  the  public  taste  it  ranks 
very  high  ;  and  although  it  is  exceedingly  volatile  and  evanescent,  yet  it 
has  that  excellent  quality  which  is  called  s<  refreshing."  Whether  this  be 
due  to  the  rosemary  or  to  the  spirit  we  cannot  say,  but  think  something 
may  be  attributed  to  both.  One  important  thing  relating  to  eau  de  Cologne 
must  not,  however,  pass  unnoticed,  and  that  is,  the  quality  of  the  spirit  used 
in  its  manufacture.  The  utter  impossibility  of  making  brandy  with  English 
spirit  in  any  way  to  resemble  the  real  Cognac,  is  well  known.  It  is  equally 
impossible  to  make  eau  de  Cologne  with  English  spirit,  to  resemble  the 
original  article.  To  speak  of  the  "  purity  "  of  French  spirit,  or  of  the 
<l  impurity"  of  English  spirit,  is  equally  absurd.  The  fact  is,  that  spirit 
derived  from  grapes,  and  spirit  obtained  from  corn,  have  each  so  distinct 
and  characteristic  an  aroma,  that  the  one  cannot  be  mistaken  for  the  other. 
The  odor  of  grape  spirit  is  said  to  be  due  to  the  ceanthic  ether  which  it  con- 
tains. The  English  spirit,  on  the  other  hand,  owes  its  odor  to  fusel  oil. 
So  powerful  is  the  ceanthic  ether  in  the  French  spirit,  that  notwithstanding 
the  addition  to  it  of  such  intensely  odoriferous  substances  as  the  ottos  of 
neroly,  rosemary,  and  others,  it  still  gives  a  characteristic  perfume  to  the 
products  made  containing  it,  and  hence  the  difficulty  of  preparing  eau  de 
Cologne  with  any  spirit  destitute  of  this  substance. 
Although  very  fine  eau  de  Cologne  is  often  made  by  merely  mixing  the 
ingredients  as  indicated  in  the  recipe  as  above,  yet  it  is  better,  first,  to  mix 
all  the  citrine  ottos  with  spirit,  and  then  to  distil  the  mixture,  afterwards 
adding  to  the  distillate  the  rosemary  and  nerolies,  such  process  being  the 
one  adopted  by  the  most  popular  house  at  Cologne. 
A  great  many  forms  for  the  manufacture  of  eau  de  Cologne  have  been 
published,  the  authors  of  some  of  the  recipes  evidently  having  no  knowledge, 
in  a  practical  sense,  of  what  they  were  putting  by  theory  to  paper  ;  other 
venturers,  to  show  their  lore,  have  searched  out  all  the  aromatics  of 
"  Lindley's  Botany,"  and  would  persuade  us  to  use  absinthe,  hyssop,  anise, 
juniper,  marjoram,  caraway,  fennel,  cumin,  cardamom,  cinnamon,  nutmeg, 
eerpolet,  angelica,  cloves,  lavender,  camphor,  balm,  peppermint,  galanga, 
lemon,  thyme,  &c,  &c,  &c. 
All  these,  however,  are  but  hum  !  Where  it  is  a  mere  matter  of  profit, 
and  the  formula  that  we  have  given  is  too  expensive  to  produce  the  article 
required,  it  is  better  to  dilute  the  said  Cologne  with  a  weak  spirit,  or  with 
rose  water,  rather  than  otherwise  alter  its  form  ;  because,  although  weak, 
the  true  aroma  of  the  original  article  is  retained. 
The  recipe  of  the  second  quality  of  eau  de  Cologne  is  given,  to  show  that 
a  very  decent  aticle  can  be  produced  with  English  spirit. 
