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

HELIOTROPE.--Either by maceration or enfleurage with clarified fat, we may obtain this fine odor from the flowers of the Heliotrope Peruvianum or H. grandiflorum. Exquisite as the odor of this plant is, at present it is not applied to use by the manufacturing perfumer. This we think rather a singular fact, especially as the perfume is powerful and the flowers abundant. We should like to hear of some experiments being tried with this plant for procuring its odor in this country, and for that purpose now suggest the mode of operation which would most likely lead to successful results. For a small trial in the first instance, which can be managed by any person having the run of a garden, we will say, procure an ordinary glue-pot now in common use, which melts the material by the boiling of water; it is in fact a water-bath, in chemical parlance--one capable of holding a pound or more of melted fat. At the season when the flowers are in bloom, obtain half a pound of fine mutton suet, melt the suet and strain it through a close hair-sieve, allow the liquefied fat, as it falls from the sieve, to drop into cold spring water; this operation granulates and washes the blood and membrane from it. In order to start with a perfectly inodorous grease, the melting and granulation process may be repeated three or four times; finally, remelt the fat and cast it into a pan to free it from adhering water.