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

The application of organic chemistry to perfumery is quite new; it is probable that the study of all the ethers or ethereal combinations already known, and of those which the ingenuity of the chemist is daily discovering, will enlarge the sphere of their practical applications. The capryl-ethers lately discovered by Bouis are remarkable for their aromatic smells (the acetate of capryloxide is possessed of the most intense and pleasant smell), and they promise a large harvest to the manufacturers of perfumes.--Annalen der Chemie. CORRESPONDENCE FROM THE "JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY OF ARTS."[N] CHEMISTRY AND PERFUMERY. SIR, When such periodicals as "Household Words" and the "Family Herald" contain scientific matters, treated in a manner to popularize science, all real lovers of philosophy must feel gratified; a little fiction, a little metaphor, is expected, and is accepted with the good intention with which it is given, in such popular prints; but when the "Journal of the Society of Arts" reprints quotations from such sources, without modifying or correcting their expressions, it conveys to its readers a tissue of fiction rather too flimsy to bear a truthful analysis.[O] In the article on Chemistry and Perfumery, in No. 47, you quote that "some of the most delicate perfumes are now made by chemical artifice, and not, as of old, by distilling them from flowers." Now, sir, this statement conveys to the public a very erroneous idea; because the substances afterwards spoken of are named essences of fruit, and not essences of flowers, and the essences of fruits named in your article never are, and never can be, used in perfumery. This assertion is based on practical experience. The artificial essences of fruits are ethers: when poured upon a handkerchief, and held up to the nose, they act, as is well known, like chloroform. Dare a perfumer sell a bottle of such a preparation to an "unprotected female?"