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

The total revenue derived from various sources, even upon this low scale of duties, from the substances with which "Britannia perfumes her pocket handkerchief," cannot be estimated at less than 40,000l. per annum. This, of course, includes the duty upon the spirits used in the home manufacture of perfumery. SECTION IV. PERFUMES OF ANIMAL ORIGIN. In the previous articles we have only spoken of the odors of plants; we now enter upon those materials used in perfumery of an animal origin. The first under our notice is-- AMBERGRIS.--This substance is found in the sea, floating near the islands of Sumatra, Molucca, and Madagascar; also on the coasts of America, Brazil, China, Japan, and the Coromandel. The western coast of Ireland is often found to yield large pieces of this substance. The shores of the counties of Sligo, Mayo, Kerry, and the isles of Arran, are the principal places where it has been found. In the "Philosophical Transactions" there is an account of a lump found on the beach of the first-mentioned county, in the year 1691, which weighed 52 oz., and was bought on the spot for 20l., but which afterwards was sold in London for more than 100l. (Philos. Trans. No. 227, p. 509). We are quite within limit in stating that many volumes concerning the origin of ambergris have been written, but the question respecting it is still at issue. It is found in the stomachs of the most voracious fishes, these animals swallowing, at particular times, everything they happen to meet with. It has been particularly found in the intestines of the spermaceti whale, and most commonly in sickly fish, whence it is supposed to be the cause or effect of the disease.