Mr. Bartlett also gives a formula for a "menthol pungent" which is quite agreeable to the smell and a novelty for headache and faintness. It is prepared by leaving out the essential oils in the above formula and substituting in their place 1 drachm of menthol.
White smelling salt consists essentially of perfumed carbonate of ammonia. There are several receipts for it, one frequently used being as follows: Mix in a capacious porcelain mortar 2.2 lbs. of ammonium carbonate with 1.1 lb. of ammonia, cover the mortar and let it stand quietly. In the course of a few days the contents have been converted into normal carbonate of ammonia. The latter is reduced to a coarse powder and perfumed with bergamot oil 0.56 drachm, lavender oil 0.9, nutmeg oil, clove oil, and rose oil each 0.28, cinnamon oil 2.82.
The incorporation of the volatile oils is effected by first triturating about 1/10 of the salt with the volatile oils and then gradually incorporating with this perfumed mass the rest of the salt, a uniform distribution of the odor being in this manner effected.
[CHAPTER X.]
FUMIGATING ESSENCES, PASTILLES, POWDERS, ETC.
Fumigating agents are divided into liquid and dry, the first being alcoholic solutions, and perhaps most popular. They consist of extractions from resins, balsams, leaves, flowers, seeds, wood, and roots, compounded with volatile oils, alcohol, and alcoholic extracts from French flower pomades.
It should be the aim of the perfumer to compound these substances so that a harmonious blending together of all the ingredients is attained. The object of fumigating living rooms, sleeping rooms, and sick chambers is not only to make abode in these rooms more agreeable by an attempt to cover the disagreeable odors, but chiefly to render them innoxious, thus combining the useful with the agreeable.
For several years past a strong prejudice against fumigating has been developed. Such prejudice may be justified in certain cases, especially when the fumigating agents contain musk or are otherwise incorrectly composed. An addition of musk, even in very small quantities, causes nervous persons to dislike fumigating agents containing it, because it is a well-known fact that musk excites the nerves in a high degree, and hence in most cases fumigating with agents containing it does more harm than good.