B. Hair Oils.

These differ from pomades mainly by containing huiles antiques instead of washed pomades; they are therefore more or less liquid and are used for the hair as much as pomades.

Benzoated Oil (Huile à Benjamin).

Sublimed benzoic acid5 oz.
Expressed oil of almond4 lb.

The acid must be dissolved in the hot oil.

Huile à l’Ess-Bouquet.

Oil of rose150 grains.
Oil of reseda3½ oz.
Oil of violet150 grains.
Tincture of musk75 grains.
Almond oil6 lb.

The essential oils are mixed, and the almond oil is added in small portions under continual stirring.

Heliotrope Hair Oil (Huile Héliotrope).

Huile antique of jasmine10½ oz.
Huile antique of rose2 lb.
Huile antique of orange flower5½ oz.
Huile antique of tuberose5½ oz.
Huile antique of vanilla1 lb.
Oil of bitter almond150 grains.
Oil of clove75 grains.

Jasmine Hair Oil (Huile de Jasmin).

Expressed oil of almond4 lb.
Huile antique of jasmine.7 oz.
Oil of bergamot1 oz.
Oil of lemon150 grains.

Oil of Swiss Herbs.

Expressed oil of almond4 lb.
Oil of bergamot150 grains.
Oil of lemon75 grains.
Oil of lavender75 grains.
Oil of peppermint150 grains.
Oil of cinnamon75 grains.

Oil of Burdock Root.

Expressed oil of almond4 lb.
Burdock root1 lb.
Oil of bergamot1 oz.
Oil of lemon1 oz.
Oil of rose¾ oz.

The burdock root is macerated for two days in the warm oil, which is then filtered and the other ingredients are added.

Macassar Oil.

Expressed oil of almond4 lb.
Alkanet root7 oz.
Oil of clove75 grains.
Oil of mace75 grains.
Oil of rose75 grains.
Oil of cinnamon½ oz.
Tincture of musk75 grains.

The alkanet root in coarse powder must be macerated in the warm almond oil until it acquires a deep red color.

Peru Hair Oil.

Peru balsam3½ oz.
Storax1¾ oz.
Expressed oil of almond8 lb.

Mix by stirring, and allow to settle for two weeks in a completely filled bottle.

Huile Philocome.

Expressed oil of almond4 lb.
Huile antique of cassie1 lb.
Huile antique of jasmine28 oz.
Wax3½ oz.
Spermaceti1¾ oz.
Oil of neroli1 oz.
Oil of rose150 grains.
Oil of cinnamon75 grains.

Portugal Oil.

Expressed oil of almond4 lb.
Oil of bergamot1 oz.
Oil of lemon150 grains.
Oil of neroli75 grains.
Oil of orange flower75 grains.
Oil of orange peel¾ oz.
Oil of cinnamon75 grains.

Tonka Oil.

Tonka beans1 lb.
Expressed oil of almond4 lb.

Inclose the powdered tonka beans in a linen bag, which is hung into the cold oil and allowed to macerate for several weeks. The same process is employed for the following:

Vanilla Oil.

Vanilla7 oz.
Almond oil4 lb.

Or,

Vanillin80 grains.
Expressed oil of almond4 lb.

[CHAPTER XXIV.]
PREPARATIONS FOR THE CARE OF THE MOUTH.

Besides the red lips and the gums, the teeth in particular ornament the mouth. Unfortunately there are but few persons who can boast of a perfectly healthy set of teeth, which is found as a normal condition only among savages and animals. The chief causes of the admitted fact that most persons have some defect in the mouth—bad teeth, pale gums, offensive odor—lie in part in our civilization with the ingestion of hot and sometimes sour food, in part in the lack of attention bestowed on the care of the mouth by many people. The care of the mouth is most important after meals and in the morning; particles of food lodge even between the most perfect teeth and undergo rapid decomposition in the high temperature prevailing in the mouth. This gives rise to a most disagreeable odor, and the decomposition quickly extends to the teeth.

Perfectly normal healthy teeth consist of a hard, brilliant external coat, the enamel, which opposes great resistance to acid and decomposing substances. But unfortunately the enamel is very sensitive to changes of temperature and easily cracks, thus admitting to the bony part of the teeth such deleterious substances and leading to their destruction. The bulk of the tooth consists of a porous mass of bone which is easily destroyed, and thus the entire set may be lost.

Hygienic perfumery is able to offer to the public means by which a healthy set of teeth can be kept in good condition and the disease arrested in affected teeth, and by which an agreeable freshness is imparted to the gums and lips. While true perfumes may be looked upon as more or less of a luxury, the hygiene of the mouth is a necessity; for we have to deal with the health and preservation of the important masticatory apparatus which is necessary to the welfare of the whole body, so that the æsthetic factor occupies a secondary position, or rather results as a necessary consequence from a proper care of the mouth.

With no other hygienic article have so many sins been committed as with those intended for the teeth; we have had occasion to examine a number of tooth powders, some of them very high-priced, which were decidedly injurious. Thus we have known of cases in which powdered pumice stone, colored and perfumed, has been sold as a tooth powder. Pumice stone, however, resembles glass in its composition and acts on the teeth like a fine file which rapidly wears away the enamel and exposes the frail bony substance. It needs no further explanation to prove the destructive effects of such a powder on the teeth.

Many person prize finely powdered wood charcoal as a tooth powder, and to some extent they are right. Wood charcoal always contains alkalies which neutralize the injurious acids, besides traces of products of dry distillation which prevent decomposition. But these valuable properties are counteracted by the fact that charcoal is always more or less gritty, or, being insoluble, will lodge between the teeth and form the nucleus for the lodgement of other substances.

In compounding articles for the mouth and teeth—tooth powders and mouth washes—the objects aimed at are to neutralize the chemical processes that injure the teeth and gums, and to restore freshness and resisting power to the relaxed gums and mucous membranes.

Remnants of food left in the mouth after meals soon develop acids which attack the teeth; they are neutralized by basic substances or alkalies which counteract them.

The formation of organic acids from food remnants is caused by microscopic fungi (schizomycetes) which adhere to the teeth (so-called tartar) in the absence of cleanliness; against these parasites there are at our disposal a number of substances which kill them rapidly and thus for a time arrest the process of decomposition; they are therefore called antiseptics.

Another group of ingredients acts especially on such abnormal conditions of the membranous and fleshy parts of the mouth as manifest themselves by colorless, easily bleeding gums. It is mainly compounds of the tannin group which strengthen the gums and are known as astringents.

In compounding articles for the teeth it has thus far unfortunately not been customary to combine several of the substances having the above properties, the general rule being to incorporate only one in the composition, and some so-called tooth lotions consist even of aromatics alone. Such articles perfume the mouth, but have no hygienic effect upon it.

Among the essential oils, however, there is one which should form a part of every article intended for the care of the mouth, provided it can remain unchanged in the presence of the other ingredients, which would not be the case where permanganate of potassium is used. Oil of peppermint and other mint oils exert a very refreshing influence on the mucous membranes of the mouth, in which they leave a sensation of freshness lasting for some time.

We give below a number of formulas for the manufacture of articles for the care of the mouth, as to the value of which the reader can form his own opinion from what has been stated. Finally it may be observed that several of the so-called secret preparations for the care of the mouth are arrant humbugs, worthless substances being sold at exorbitant prices and, worse yet, lacking the vaunted hygienic effect owing to their chemical composition.

The articles for the care of the mouth and teeth may be divided into tooth pastes, tooth powders, tooth tinctures or lotions, and mouth washes.