This perfume has such a lasting odor, that a handkerchief being well perfumed with it, will still retain an odor even after it has been washed.
The fact is, that both musk and ambergris contain a substance which clings pertinaciously to woven fabrics, and not being soluble in weak alkaline lyes, is still found upon the material after passing through the lavatory ordeal.
Powdered ambergris is used in the manufacture of cassolettes—little ivory or bone boxes perforated—which are made to contain a paste of strong-smelling substances, to carry in the pocket or reticule; also in the making of peau d'Espagne, or Spanish skin, used for perfuming writing paper and envelopes, and which will be described hereafter.
Civet Cat.
Civet.—This substance is secreted by the Viverra civetta, or civet cat. It is formed in a large double glandular receptacle between the anus and the pudendum of the creature. Like many other substances of Oriental origin, it was first brought to this country by the Dutch.
When the civet cats are kept in a state of confinement, which at one time was common in Amsterdam, they are placed in strong cages, so constructed as to prevent the animal from turning round and biting the person employed in collecting the secreted substance. This operation is said to be performed twice a week, and is done by scraping out the civet with a small spoon: about a drachm at a time is thus obtained. A good deal of the civet now brought to European markets is from Calicut, capital of the province of Malabar, and from Bassora on the Euphrates.
In its pure state, civet has, to nearly all persons, a most disgusting odor; but when diluted to an infinitesimal portion, its perfume is agreeable. It is difficult to ascertain the reason why the same substance, modified only by the quantity of matter presented to the nose, should produce an opposite effect on the olfactory nerve; but such is the case with nearly all odorous bodies, especially with ottos, which, if smelled at, are far from nice, and in some cases, positively nasty—such as otto of neroli, otto of thyme, otto of patchouly; but if diluted with a thousand times its volume of oil, spirit, &c., then their fragrance is delightful.
Otto of rose to many has a sickly odor, but when eliminated in the homeopathic quantities as it rises from a single rose-bloom, who is it that will not admit that "the rose is sweet?" The odor of civet is best imparted, not by actual contact, but by being placed in the neighborhood of absorbent materials. Thus, when spread upon leather, which, being covered with silk and placed in a writing-desk, perfumes the paper and envelopes delightfully, and so much so, that they retain the odor after passing through the post.