Perfumery. The receipts in this department embrace a great variety of odorous essences, extracts, tinctures, oils, pomades, cosmetics, dentifrices, and other articles of the toilet, and are all derived from the latest and best authorities.

940. How to Prepare Essences and Perfumed Spirits

940. How to Prepare Essences and Perfumed Spirits. The scented spirits of the perfumer are merely alcoholic solutions of the aromatic and odorous principles of the substances they represent, obtained in one or other of the following ways:- By simply adding essential oil or other odoriferous matter to the spirit, and agitating them together until solution is complete. Occasionally the resulting alcoholic solution is distilled. By macerating ordigesting the ingredients (previously bruised or pulverized) in the spirit, with frequent agitation, for a few days, when the resulting tincture is either decanted and filtered (if necessary), or the whole is thrown into a still, and submitted to distillation by a gentle heat. In the former case, the spirit retained in the pores of the solid ingredients, and which, consequently, cannot be drawn off, is obtained by powerful pressure. (See Nos. 39 (Maceration) and 40.) By digesting the spirit, with frequent agitation on highly scented pomade or oil, in a close vessel, at a gentle heat for some hours, and the next day decanting the perfumed spirit. (See No. 40 (Digestion).) Distillation is only applicable to substances of which the fragrant principles are volatile, and readily pass over with the spirit during the process. Thus, flowers, flowering tops, herbs, seeds, etc., may, in general, be so treated; but not musk, ambergris, vanilla, and a few other substances, of which the odor is of a more fixed nature. (See No. 13 (Distillation).) In proceeding by distillation, one of the first points to be attended to is, to see that the still, condensing-worm, or refrigerator, and the receiver, be perfectly clean and sweet, and absolutely free from the odor of any previous distillation. The lute employed to secure the still-head or capital to the still must also be of a simple character, incapable of conveying any taint to the hot vapor that comes in contact with it. (Linseed-meal or equal weights of linseed-meal and whiting, made into a stiff paste or dough with water, is a good lute for the purpose. Sweet almond-cake meal is still better.) The most convenient and manageable source of heat is high-pressure steam supplied from an adjacent boiler, the body of the still being enclosed in a steam-jacket for the purpose. A water-bath, the boiling-point of which should be raised by the addition of about 1/4 its weight of common salt, comes next in point of convenience and effect. When the still is exposed to the heat of a naked fire, or that of dry flues, a little water must be put into it along with the spirit and other ingredients, to prevent empy-reuma; and the greatest care must be taken to stop the process, and to remove the receiver, as soon as the proper quantity of distillate is obtained. If this be neglected, the odor of the whole may be vitiated. Moderately rapid distillation is favorable to the odor of the product, as is also the elevation of the boiling-point in the liquid operated on. Spirit, distilled from aromatics decreases in odor with the boiling-point of the ingredients in the still. To raise the latter, the addition of 1 to 11/2 pounds of common salt per gallon is often advantageously made. (See Nos. 5 (Water Bath, or Bain-Marie), 6 and 7.) By one or other of the above methods, or a combination of them, are, in general, prepared all the "eaux," "esprits," and "extraits," of the perfumers. As a rule, extraits and essences are preferred to eaux and esprits as the basis of good perfumery, when the color is not objectionable. Whatever process is adopted, the utmost care must be taken in the selection of the spirit used. Only spirit that is absolutely pure, flavorless, and scentless, must be employed, if we desire the product to be of fine quality. Malt-spirit or corn-spirit contaminated, even in the very slightest degree, with fusel-oil or corn-oil, or a whiskey-odor, is utterly unfit for the purpose. So also the refined methylated spirit now so commonly and fraudulently sold as spirit of wine. The extreme purity of the spirit employed by the Frenchmanufacturingperfumers - it being actually spirit of wine, and not merely so in name - is one of the reasons why their odoriferous spirits are so much superior to those of the American houses. Great care must also be taken in the selection of the essential oils intended to be employed in making perfumed spirits. These should be pure or genuine, and should be pale and recent, or of the last season's distillation. If they be old, or have been much exposed to the air, they will contain more or less resin, and their alcoholic solution will be defective in fragrance, and be liable to permanently stain delicate articles of clothing to which it may be applied. The strength of the spirit used for concentrated essences, as a rule, should not be less than 90 per cent., or of the specific gravity .8332. A few require a spirit of even greater strength than this. The first quality of extraits, particularly those prepared from pomades and oils, and many of the eaux and esprits, also require 90 per cent. spirit. The strength of the spirit for the others, and for second qualities (commonly sold as the best in the stores), must be fully 75 per cent., or of the specific gravity .8765; that of the third quality fully 70 per cent., or specific gravity .8892; and that of the fourth quality fully proof, or specific gravity .920. The last is the lowest quality, and the weakest of any kind made by respectable perfumers; but the double distilled lavender-water, eau de Cologne, and other scents, vended in little showy bottles, by the druggists, and in fancy-stores, are commonly even much weaker than this, being often under proof. (See No. 1435.) The capacity of spirit, at this strength, of dissolving essential oil and other odorous matter is, however, very little. The solvent power of spirit decreases with its strength, but much more rapidly. (Cooley.)