The Art of Perfumery, and Methods of Obtaining the Odors of Plants Part 8

EXTRACT OF TUBEROSE.

Eight pounds of No. 24 tuberose pomatum, cut up very fine, is to be placed into 1 gallon of the best rectified spirit. After standing for three weeks or a month at summer heat, and with frequent agitation, it is fit to draw off, and being strained through cotton wool, is ready either for sale or use in the manufacture of bouquets.

This essence of tuberose, like that of jasmine, is exceedingly volatile, and if sold in its pure state quickly "flies off" the handkerchief; it is therefore necessary to add some fixing ingredient, and for this purpose it is best to use one ounce of extract of orris, or half an ounce of extract of vanilla, to every pint of tuberose.

VANILLA.--The pod or bean of the _Vanilla planifolia_ yields a perfume of rare excellence. When good, and if kept for some time, it becomes covered with an efflorescence of needle crystals possessing properties similar to benzoic acid, but differing from it in composition. Few objects are more beautiful to look upon than this, when viewed by a microscope with the aid of polarized light.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Vanilla.]

EXTRACT OF VANILLA.

Vanilla pods, 1/2 lb.

Rectified spirit, 1 gallon.

Slit the pods from end to end, so as to lay open the interior, then cut them up in lengths of about a quarter of an inch, macerate with occasional agitation for about a month; the tincture thus formed will only require straining through cotton to be ready for any use that is required. In this state it is rarely sold for a perfume, but is consumed in the manufacture of compound odors, bouquets, or nosegays, as they are called.

Extract of Vanilla is also used largely in the manufacture of hair-washes, which are readily made by mixing the extract of vanilla with either rose, orange, elder, or rosemary water, and afterwards filtering.

We need scarcely mention, that vanilla is greatly used by cooks and confectioners for flavoring.

VERBENA, or VERVAINE.--The scented species of this plant, the lemon verbena, _Aloysia citriodora_ (Hooker), gives one of the finest perfumes with which we are acquainted; it is well known as yielding a delightful fragrance by merely drawing the hand over the plant; some of the little vessels or sacks containing the otto must be crushed in this act, as there is little or no odor by merely smelling at the plant.

The otto, which can be extracted from the leaves by distillation with water, on account of its high price, is scarcely, if ever, used by the manufacturing perfumer, but it is most successfully imitated by mixing the otto of lemon gra.s.s, _Andropogon schoenanthus_, with rectified spirit, the odor of which resembles the former to a nicety. The following is a good form for making the

EXTRACT OF VERBENA.

Rectified spirit, 1 pint.

Otto of lemon gra.s.s, 3 drachms.

" lemon peel, 2 oz.

" orange peel, 1/2 oz.

After standing together for a few hours and then filtering, it is fit for sale.

Another mixture of this kind, presumed by the public to be made from the same plant, but of a finer quality, is composed thus--it is sold under the t.i.tle

EXTRAIT DE VERVEINE.

Rectified spirit, 1 pint.

Otto of orange peel, 1 oz.

" lemon peel, 2 oz.

" citron, 1 drachm.

" lemon gra.s.s, 2-1/2 drachms.

Extrait de fleur d'orange, 7 oz.

" " tubereuse, 7 oz.

Esprit de rose, 1/2 pint.

This mixture is exceedingly refres.h.i.+ng, and is one of the most elegant perfumes that is made. Being white, it does not stain the handkerchief.

It is best when sold fresh made, as by age the citrine oils oxidize, and the perfume acquires an ethereal odor, and then customers say "it is sour." The vervaine thus prepared enters into the composition of a great many of the favorite bouquets that are sold under the t.i.tle "Court Bouquet," and others which are mixtures of violet, rose, and jasmine, with verbena or vervaine in different proportions. In these preparations, as also in Eau de Portugal, and in fact where any of the citrine ottos are used, a much finer product is obtained by using grape spirit or brandy in preference to the English corn spirit as a solvent for them. Nor do they deteriorate so quickly in French spirit as in English. Whether this be due to the oil of wine (oeanthic ether) or not we cannot say, but think it is so.

VIOLET.--

"The forward violet thus did I chide: Sweet thief, whence didst thou steal thy sweet that smells, If not from my love's breath?"

The perfume exhaled by the _Viola odorata_ is so universally admired, that to speak in its favor would be more than superfluous. The demand for the "essence of violets" is far greater than the manufacturing perfumers are at present able to supply, and as a consequence, it is difficult to procure the genuine article through the ordinary sources of trade.

Real violet is, however, sold by many of the retail perfumers of the West End of London, but at a price that prohibits its use except by the affluent or extravagant votaries of fas.h.i.+on. The violet farms from whence the flowers are procured to make this perfume are very extensive at Nice and Gra.s.se, also in the neighborhood of Florence. The true smelling principle or otto of violets has never yet been isolated: a very concentrated solution in alcohol impresses the olfactory nerve with the idea of the presence of hydrocyanic acid, which is probably a true impression. Burnett says that the plant _Viola tricolor_ (heart's ease), when bruised, smells like peach kernels, and doubtless, therefore, contains prussic acid.

The flowers of the heart's ease are scentless, but the plant evidently contains a principle which in other species of the Viola, is eliminated as the "sweet that smells" so beautifully alluded to by Shakspeare.

For commercial purposes, the odor of the violet is procured in combination with spirit, oil, or suet, precisely according to the methods previously described for obtaining the aroma of some other flowers before mentioned, such as those for ca.s.sie, jasmine, orange-flower, namely, by maceration, or by _enfleurage_, the former method being princ.i.p.ally adopted, followed by, when "essence" is required, digesting the pomade in rectified alcohol.

Good essence of violets, thus made, is of a beautiful green color, and, though of a rich deep tint, has no power to stain a white fabric, and its odor is perfectly natural.

The essence of violet, as prepared for retail sale, is thus made, according to the quality and strength of the pomade:--Take from six to eight pounds of the violet pomade, chop it up fine, and place it into one gallon of perfectly clean (free from fusel oil) rectified spirit, allow it to digest for three weeks or a month, then strain off the essence, and to every pint thereof add three ounces of tincture of orris root, and three ounces of esprit de ca.s.sie; it is then fit for sale.

We have often seen displayed for sale in druggists' shops plain tincture of orris root, done up in nice bottles, with labels upon them inferring the contents to be "Extract of Violet;" customers thus once "taken in"

are not likely to be so a second time.

A good IMITATION ESSENCE OF VIOLETS is best prepared thus--

Spirituous extract of ca.s.sie pomade, 1 pint.

Esprit de rose, from pomade, 1/2 "

Tincture of orris, 1/2 "

Spirituous extract of tuberose pomade, 1/2 "

Otto of almonds, 3 drops.

After filtration it is fit for bottling. In this mixture, it is the extract of ca.s.sie which has the leading smell, but modified by the rose and tuberose becomes very much like the violet. Moreover, it has a green color, like the extract of violet; and as the eye influences the judgment by the sense of taste, so it does with the sense of smell.

Extract of violet enters largely into the composition of several of the most popular bouquets, such as extract of spring flowers and many others.

VITIVERT, or Kus-Kus, is the rhizome of an Indian gra.s.s. In the neighborhood of Calcutta, and in the city, this material has an extensive use by being manufactured into awnings, blinds, and sun-shades, called Tatty. During the hot seasons an attendant sprinkles water over them; this operation cools the apartment by the evaporation of the water, and, at the same time, perfumes the atmosphere, in a very agreeable manner, with the odoriferous principle of the vitivert. It has a smell between the aromatic or spicy odor and that of flowers--if such a distinction can be admitted. We cla.s.sify it with orris root, not that it has any odor resembling it, but because it has a like effect in use in perfumery, and because it is prepared as a tincture for obtaining its odor.

About four pounds of the dried vitivert, as it is imported, being cut small and set to steep in a gallon of rectified spirits for a fortnight, produces the

ESSENCE OF VITIVERT of the shops. In this state it is rarely used as a perfume, although it is occasionally asked for by those who, perhaps, have learnt to admire its odor by their previous residence in "the Eastern clime." The extract, essence, or tincture of vitivert, enters into the composition of several of the much-admired and old bouquets manufactured in the early days of perfumery in England, such as "_Mousselaine des Indies_," for which preparation M. Delcroix, in the zenith of his fame, created quite a _furor_ in the fas.h.i.+onable world.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Vitivert.]

Essence of vitivert is also made by dissolving 2 oz. of otto of vitivert in 1 gallon of spirit; this preparation is stronger than the tincture, as above.

MARECHALE and BOUQUET DU ROI, perfumes which have also "had their day," owe much of their peculiarity to the vitivert contained in them.

Bundles of vitivert are sold for perfuming linen and preventing moth, and, when ground, is used to manufacture certain sachet powders.

Otto of vitivert is procurable by distillation; a hundred-weight of vitivert yields about 14 oz. of otto, which in appearance very much resembles otto of santal. I have placed a sample of it in the museum at Kew.

VOLKAMERIA.--An exquisite perfume is sold under this name, presumed, of course, to be derived from the _Volkameria inermis_ (LINDLEY). Whether it has a smell resembling the flower of that plant, or whether the plant blooms at all, we are unable to say. It is a native of India, and seems to be little known even in the botanic gardens of this country; however, the plant has a name, and that's enough for the versatile Parisian perfumer, and if the mixture he makes "takes" with the fas.h.i.+onable world--the plant which christens it has a fine perfume for a certainty!

ESSENCE OF VOLKAMERIA.