When well dried it was placed in a basket in alternate layers with freshly gathered, entire flowers of roses and jasmine (or flowers of orange and citrus when possible). The whole was compressed by a heavy weight, and each day the flowers were renewed until the “Usnea” was thoroughly impregnated with a very fragrant odour. It was then reduced to a fine powder and ready for other ingredients. To each pound should be added:
1-1/2 oz. powdered root of white Iris.
1-1/2 oz. of Cyperus (a sedge).
1 scruple or half drachm of musk reduced to a pulp with fragrant spirit of roses.
1/2 drachm of ambergris dissolved in a scruple of genuine oil of roses, or oil of jasmine or oranges as may be preferred.
Zwelser adds:
“This most fragrant royal powder when sprinkled on the head invigorates by its remarkably pleasant odour; by its astringency and dryness it removes all impurities, and, since it operates with no viscosity nor sticks firmly either to skin or hair, it is easily removed from the hair of the head.”
G. Some minor Uses of Lichens
The possibility of extracting gum or mucilage from lichens was demonstrated by the Russian scientist, Professor Georgi[1321], and later by Amoreux[1322], the method employed being successive boiling of the plants. The larger foliose or fruticose forms were specially recommended.