APPENDIX.
Some Specialties.
Besides the preparations enumerated in the preceding pages, we find in perfumery some products which are in favor on account of their fragrance and are suitable for scenting ladies’ writing-desks, sewing-baskets, boxes, and similar objects. They find their most appropriate use in places where an aromatic odor is desired, while there is no room for keeping the substances themselves. These must therefore be put into a small compass, and the aromatics chosen should be distinguished by great intensity and permanence of odor.
We subjoin a few formulas for the manufacture of such specialties, and add the remark that besides the aromatics there given other substances may be used in their preparation; but that the presence of benzoin, musk, or civet, even in small amount, is always necessary, since these substances, as above stated, not only possess an intense and permanent odor, but have the valuable property of imparting lasting qualities to more volatile odors.
It is a good plan, too, to keep on hand two kinds of these specialties—one containing musk, the other none—for the reason that the musk odor is as disagreeable to some persons as it is pleasant to others.
Spanish Skin (Peau d’Espagne, Spanisch Leder).
The article sold under this name resembles in some respects sachets or scent bags and is made as follows.
Take a piece of wash-leather (chamois), trim it to a square shape, and leave it for three or four days in the following mixture:
| Benzoin | ½ lb. |
| Oil of bergamot | ¾ oz. |
| Oil of lemon | ¾ oz. |
| Oil of lemon grass | ¾ oz. |
| Oil of lavender | ¾ oz. |
| Oil of nutmeg | 150 grains. |
| Oil of clove | 150 grains. |
| Oil of neroli | 1½ oz. |
| Oil of rose | 1½ oz. |
| Oil of santal | 1½ oz. |
| Tincture of tonka | ¾ oz. |
| Oil of cinnamon | 150 grains. |
| Alcohol | 1 qt. |
At the end of the time named remove the leather from the liquid, let it drain, spread it on a glass plate, and when dry coat it on the rough side, by means of a brush, with a paste prepared in a mortar from the following ingredients:
| Benzoic acid, sublimed | 150 grains. |
| Musk | 15 grains. |
| Civet | 15 grains. |
| Gum acacia | 1 oz. |
| Glycerin | ¾ oz. |
| Water | 1¾ oz. |
The leather is then folded in the centre, smoothed with a paper-knife, put under a weight, and allowed to dry. The dried leather forms the so-called perfume skin which retains its fine odor for years. Instead of the above alcoholic liquids any desired alcoholic perfume may be used; especially suitable are those containing oils of lemon grass, lavender, and rose, since they are not very volatile, and when combined with musk and civet remain fragrant for a long time. A sufficiently large piece of perfume skin inserted in a desk pad or placed among the paper will make the latter very fragrant. Spanish skin is chiefly used for this purpose, as well as for work, glove, and handkerchief boxes, etc. It is generally inclosed in a heavy silk cover.
If leather be thought too expensive, four to six layers of blotting-paper may be perfumed in the same way and properly inclosed. Thin layers of cotton wadding between paper can also be thus perfumed and used for filling pin cushions, etc.
Spanish Paste.
Mix the following substances intimately in a porcelain mortar, and add water drop by drop until a doughy mass results.
| Ambergris | ¾ oz. |
| Benzoin | 1½ oz. |
| Musk | ¾ oz. |
| Vanilla | ¾ oz. |
| Orris root | ¾ oz. |
| Cinnamon | ¾ oz. |
| Oil of bergamot | 1½ oz. |
| Oil of rose | ¾ oz. |
| Gum acacia | 1½ oz. |
| Glycerin | 1½ oz. |
This paste, divided into pieces about the size of a hazelnut, is used for filling the so-called cassolettes or scent boxes which are carried in the pocket, etc., like smelling bottles. Owing to its pasty consistence this preparation can be used for perfuming jewelry (small quantities are inserted within the diamond settings), fine leather goods, belts, and other articles. It is unnecessary to lengthen the list; every practical perfumer will know what objects need perfuming.
[CHAPTER XIX.]
HYGIENIC AND COSMETIC PERFUMERY.
Perfumery is not merely called upon to act in an æsthetic direction and gladden the senses; it has another and more important aim, that is, to aid in some respects the practice of medicine. It is not necessary to point out that in this sense, too, it acts in an æsthetic way; for health and beauty are one and inseparable.
The field relegated to perfumery with reference to hygiene is extensive, comprising the care of the skin, the hair, and the mouth. But we also find in commercial perfumery articles which possess no medicinal effect and serve merely for beautifying some parts of the body, for instance, paints and hair dyes. As it is not possible to separate perfumes with hygienic effects from cosmetics, we shall describe the latter in connection with the former.
To repeat, hygienic perfumery has to deal with such substances as have really a favorable effect on health. No one will deny that soap takes the first place among them. Soap promotes cleanliness, and cleanliness in itself is essential to health. But it would exceed the scope of this work were we to treat in detail of the manufacture of soap and its employment in the toilet; we must confine ourselves to some specialties exclusively made by perfumers and into the composition of which soap enters. We do so the more readily since perfumers are but rarely in a position to make soap, and in most cases find it more advantageous to buy the raw material, that is, ordinary good soap, from the manufacturer and to perfume it.
Next to soap in hygienic perfumery stand the so-called emulsions and creams (crêmes) which are excellent preparations for the skin and pertain to the domain of the perfumer.
The human skin consists of three distinct parts: the deepest layer, the subcutaneous cellular tissue which gradually changes into true skin; the corium or true skin (the thickest layer); and the superficial scarf skin or epidermis which is very thin and consists largely of dead and dying cells; these are continually shed and steadily reproduced from the corium.
The skin contains various depressions, namely, the sudoriparous glands which excrete sweat; the sebaceous glands which serve the purpose of covering the skin with fat and thereby keep it soft, glossy, and supple; and lastly the hair follicles which contain the hairs, an appendage to the skin.
The main object of hygienic perfumery with reference to the skin is to keep these glandular organs in health and activity; it effects this by various remedies which, besides promoting the general health, improve the appearance of the skin.
As a special group of preparations is intended exclusively for the care of the skin, so another class is devoted to the preservation of the hair, and still another to the care of the mouth and its greatest ornament, the teeth. Accordingly the preparations belonging under this head will be divided into three groups—those for the skin, the hair, and the mouth.