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

When the chemical nomenclature was last revised, the organic bodies were little dealt with. We know that we owe this universal "oil" to the old alchemist, much in the same way as "spirit" has been used, but a little consideration quickly indicates the folly of its continued use. We can no longer call otto of rosemary, or otto of nutmegs, essential oil of rosemary or nutmegs, with any more propriety than we can term sulphuric acid "oil" of vitriol. All the chemical works speak of the odoriferous bodies as "essential" or "volatile" oils, and of the greasy bodies as "fat" or "unctuous" oils. Oils, properly so called, unite with salifiable bases and form soap; whereas the essential or volatile oils, i.e. what we would please to call the ottos, do no such thing. On the contrary, they unite with acids in the majority of instances. The word oil must hereafter be confined to those bodies to which its literal meaning refers--fat, unctuous, inodorous (when pure), greasy substances--and can no longer be applied to those odoriferous materials which possess qualities diametrically opposite to oil. We have grappled with "spirit," and fixed its meaning in a chemical sense; we have no longer "spirit" of salt, or "spirit" of hartshorn. Let us no longer have almond oil "essential," almond oil "unctuous," and the like. It remains only for us to complete the branch of perfumery which relates to odors for the handkerchief, by giving the formulæ for preparing the most favorite "bouquets" and "nosegays." These, as before stated, are but mixtures of the simple ottos in spirit, which, properly blended, produce an agreeable and characteristic odor,--an effect upon the smelling nerve similar to that which music or the mixture of harmonious sounds produces upon the nerve of hearing, that of pleasure.