The natural oil of flowers and aromatic plants are the heart of every good perfume, and in the extraction of these essences, petroleum-based chemicals play an important part.
It is a moot point whether perfumes were first used as a means of overpowering other, and less pleasant, odours or whether they were employed by women in their age-old pastime of alluring men. If the latter, it would seem a supreme example of the male of the species having made a rod for his own back. We may never know the answer to that question, however, for despite extensive research, nothing definite has so far been discovered which provides a clear indication of when, where and by whom perfumes were first made.
There is reason for believing that a race of people who lived in the period about 23000 BC used some form of petroleum as one of their principal toilet accessories, but for the first recorded use of perfumes, we have to go to Egypt, where, in an era variously placed at 5.000 to 3.500 BC., cosmetics of several kinds were used as offerings to the deities, as the chief agents for embalming the dead, and for purely aesthetic purposes.
A little later, at Heliopolis-the "City of the Sun', and now one of Cairo's most modem suburbs - the sun worshippers had their headquarters, and thrice daily in the temples there the priests offered perfumes to the Sun God; resins were burned at dawn, myrrh at midday and kaphi, a mixture of several aromatic ingredients of which the precise nature is unknown, at sunset. At the feet of the statue of the Goddess Isis an ox was sacrificed on ceremonial occasions, but the stench of the burning flesh proving obnoxious to priest and layman alike, the carcass was stuffed with aromatic gums and oils, made by the priests themselves, who surrounded the preparation of these perfumes with an aura of mystery thus helping to strengthen their power over a credulous populace.
The ancient Egyptians were the originators of the artificial bath, subsequently so greatly elaborated by the Greeks and the Romans. Nero was very addicted to the use of perfume, and heavy, voluptuous scents played an important part in the life of his Court.
In the days of Lucullus and Cicero, men used perfumes very extensively, but Caesar, on the other hand, would have little to do with men who came scented into his presence, and he is reputed to have said to one highly-perfumed follower, “I would rather you smelled of garlic".
The Persians greatly favoured heavily scented perfumes and added many new ranges to those already in use at the time-notably attar of roses.
In Britain, perfumes were introduced by the Romans, although there is some evidence that the ancient Briton used a primitive type of unguent. It was in the days of the Crusades, however, that perfumes really began to play a part in the social conscience of the country, when the knights, returning from the Holy Land, brought back with them samples of fragrance from the Middle East for their ladies.
By the time Queen Elizabeth I ascended the throne a wide variety of perfumes was in daily use, and the fashion grew steadily until Oliver Cromwell assumed power, when perfumes virtually disappeared. With Charles II restored to the throne, cosmetics and perfumes again came on the scene, and by the 18th century seem to have become something of a menace, for a Bill was introduced into Parliament containing a clause which read: "That all women of whatever age, rank, profession or degree, whether virgins, maids or widows, that shall impose upon, seduce, or betray into matrimony any of His Majesty's subjects by scents, paints, cosmetics, waxes, artificial teeth, false hair, Spanish wool, iron stays, hoops, high heeled shoes, bolstered hips, shall incur the penalty of the law in force against witchcraft and like misdemeanours, and that the marriage, upon conviction, shall stand null and void”. No wonder men termed those 'the good old days'!
In medieval France and Spain, perfumery became exceedingly popular and many exotic uses were discovered. In France, courtiers were the principal users, and in some courts each day of the week had its own distinctive perfume. Fashion made many demands on the ingenuity of the parfumeur, and at one period in France, Italy and England even dictated that gloves must be perfumed. This fashion became so widespread and lasted for such a long time that the art of the scent maker and that of the glove manufacturer became combined.
THE MANUFACTURE OF PERFUMES
Natural perfumes are a product of plant metabolism, and their highest form is found in the scent of fresh flowers, due to the occurrence in the petals of minute traces of essential oils. In the rose and in lavender this is in the free state, but in jasmine and the tuberose it is present in the form of a glucoside. These fragrant constituents are distributed in various parts of a number of plants, such as the blossoms, leaves, fruits, seeds, the bark, the wood and, in certain types of plant, the gums and oleo-resins.
The most popular scents are undoubtedly those made from blends of perfumes extracted from flowers, and this is an industry-or perhaps it should be termed an art—which is predominantly French. This is understandable, for it is a trade peculiarly suitable to the French temperament; moreover, a prerequisite for the extraction of perfume from flowers is flowers, and where better may these be grown in luxuriant abundance than on the Côte d'Azur?
For the past one hundred years at least, Grasse, that pleasant town clinging to the mountainside behind Cannes, has been the centre of the extraction industry. Over a wide area around the town most of the land is given over to floriculture, and from spring to autumn the countryside is a patchwork of colour, varying from the golden hues of the mimosa in the early part of the year, to the creamy-white of jasmine and the darker shades of lavender as summer draws to a close.
It has been estimated that to obtain just one kilogram of perfume, 8oo to 1,000 kilograms of blossoms are required, and altogether something like 1,500 tons of flowers are treated every year in the score or so of factories in Grasse. Every morning, large quantities of freshly-picked blooms are delivered to these factories. My last visit to Grasse coincided with the jasmine season, and in one of the largest factories in the town I saw great mounds of fragrant blossoms being processed.
At one time the perfume was extracted from the flowers by treating them with steam in a tort. This method served very well with the Ludy type of blossom, such as lavender, but For the more delicate flowers a much more elaborate process, known as enfleurage, was used, the blossoms being placed on sheets of less which ad been covered with a thin layer effect. When the fat has become saturated Viu perfume from the flowers, the perfume was extracted from the fat with alcohol which was subsequently removed from the perfume by distillation. This process, or a slightly more modern version of it, is still used, but it is very costly.
HOW PETROLEUM PLAYS ITS PART
In the early years of this century, one of the leading perfumers in Grasse hit upon the idea of using a volatile solvent for the continuous extraction of the perfume from flowers, and employed ethyl ether for this purpose. This was a great improvement, but not the complete answer, and it was not long before the ethyl ether was replaced by a special spirit, known as Essence B, supplied by the Shell Berre Petit Couronne Refinery.
The process is briefly as follows. Large quantities of flowers are placed upon perforated trays in air-tight percolators. The Essence B then circulates through the apertures in the trays, becomes impregnated with the natural perfume, and is then drawn off from the bottom of the percolators and pumped into a still where, under vacuum, the essence is distilled, the perfume remaining at the bottom of the retort. This perfume is a thick, syrupy liquid, known as 'concrete'. This 'concrete' is then treated with alcohol to remove certain impurities, and after distillation, the 'absolute' perfume is obtained. The utmost care is necessary when refining Essence B, as the slightest odour would render it unsuitable for the treatment of the flowers.
In addition to the production of the natural oils and concretes, several of the Grasse factories now produce synthetic perfumes, as the output of natural oils is insufficient to meet the demands of the perfume industry.
Among the synthetic oils manufactured at Grasse are those known as ionones, the basis of the oil of violets. Acetone of extreme purity, produced at the Shell Saint-Gobain chemical plant at Berre L'Etang, near Marseilles, has played a leading part in the large-scale development of ionone synthesis. Tertiary butyl alcohol is used in the manufacture of synthetic musk, and both the natural and the synthetic branches of the industry are now using isopropyl ether and isopropyl alcohol (also supplied from Berre Refinery) as extraction solvents,
THE ART OF THE PERFUMER
As even on the Riviera flowers do not bloom all the year-round, the question may well be asked, what goes on in the Grasse perfumeries during the winter months? The answer is simple enough. When flowers are not available, other parts of the plant are processed. I should make it clear here that the concretes and absolute oils are only part of the ingredients necessary for the making of perfumes. The scents one buys in a shop are very complex blends of many of the basic materials produced in Grasse. It is, for example, necessary to blend several absolute oils and then to add either a little musk or a little ambergris to impart 'body' to the perfume. A trace of civet may also be added, for strangely enough this pungent odour acts as a foil to the blend of wholly delectable floral perfumes, which a woman uses to enhance her charm or a man buys for her as a means of winning her favours - or as a peace offering,
In the brief Riviera winter, then, orris root, oak moss, aromatic barks, gums and violet leaves are processed and are used mostly as fixatives, petroleum again playing an important part, usually in the form of a solvent.
Grasse provides the basic materials for the blender, who brings to his art subtlety, refinement, restraint and innate good taste. The imagination of the true artist can be given free rein, as the composition of a perfume is a creative achievement. The French hold, and with considerable justification, that there is only one place in the world where the artist in perfumes will find his true inspiration and be able to create truly distinctive and elegant perfumes. And that, of course, is Paris.
Perfumes are inclined to be temperamental, and a scent that suits one woman admirably may fail completely with another person. One type of perfume may be ideal for a blonde and another for a brunette, and most women know how to select their perfumes with discretion. Menfolk who are contemplating giving their wives or girlfriends (or both) perfume for Christmas would, therefore, be well advised to take care with their purchases. But having chosen the right one, no gift is more welcome to the majority of women.
K.B.S.
It is a moot point whether perfumes were first used as a means of overpowering other, and less pleasant, odours or whether they were employed by women in their age-old pastime of alluring men. If the latter, it would seem a supreme example of the male of the species having made a rod for his own back. We may never know the answer to that question, however, for despite extensive research, nothing definite has so far been discovered which provides a clear indication of when, where and by whom perfumes were first made.
 |
| The solvents plant at Berre L'Etang Refinery, near Marseille in the south of France, produces solvents used in the perfume industry. |
There is reason for believing that a race of people who lived in the period about 23000 BC used some form of petroleum as one of their principal toilet accessories, but for the first recorded use of perfumes, we have to go to Egypt, where, in an era variously placed at 5.000 to 3.500 BC., cosmetics of several kinds were used as offerings to the deities, as the chief agents for embalming the dead, and for purely aesthetic purposes.
A little later, at Heliopolis-the "City of the Sun', and now one of Cairo's most modem suburbs - the sun worshippers had their headquarters, and thrice daily in the temples there the priests offered perfumes to the Sun God; resins were burned at dawn, myrrh at midday and kaphi, a mixture of several aromatic ingredients of which the precise nature is unknown, at sunset. At the feet of the statue of the Goddess Isis an ox was sacrificed on ceremonial occasions, but the stench of the burning flesh proving obnoxious to priest and layman alike, the carcass was stuffed with aromatic gums and oils, made by the priests themselves, who surrounded the preparation of these perfumes with an aura of mystery thus helping to strengthen their power over a credulous populace.
The ancient Egyptians were the originators of the artificial bath, subsequently so greatly elaborated by the Greeks and the Romans. Nero was very addicted to the use of perfume, and heavy, voluptuous scents played an important part in the life of his Court.
In the days of Lucullus and Cicero, men used perfumes very extensively, but Caesar, on the other hand, would have little to do with men who came scented into his presence, and he is reputed to have said to one highly-perfumed follower, “I would rather you smelled of garlic".
The Persians greatly favoured heavily scented perfumes and added many new ranges to those already in use at the time-notably attar of roses.
In Britain, perfumes were introduced by the Romans, although there is some evidence that the ancient Briton used a primitive type of unguent. It was in the days of the Crusades, however, that perfumes really began to play a part in the social conscience of the country, when the knights, returning from the Holy Land, brought back with them samples of fragrance from the Middle East for their ladies.
By the time Queen Elizabeth I ascended the throne a wide variety of perfumes was in daily use, and the fashion grew steadily until Oliver Cromwell assumed power, when perfumes virtually disappeared. With Charles II restored to the throne, cosmetics and perfumes again came on the scene, and by the 18th century seem to have become something of a menace, for a Bill was introduced into Parliament containing a clause which read: "That all women of whatever age, rank, profession or degree, whether virgins, maids or widows, that shall impose upon, seduce, or betray into matrimony any of His Majesty's subjects by scents, paints, cosmetics, waxes, artificial teeth, false hair, Spanish wool, iron stays, hoops, high heeled shoes, bolstered hips, shall incur the penalty of the law in force against witchcraft and like misdemeanours, and that the marriage, upon conviction, shall stand null and void”. No wonder men termed those 'the good old days'!
In medieval France and Spain, perfumery became exceedingly popular and many exotic uses were discovered. In France, courtiers were the principal users, and in some courts each day of the week had its own distinctive perfume. Fashion made many demands on the ingenuity of the parfumeur, and at one period in France, Italy and England even dictated that gloves must be perfumed. This fashion became so widespread and lasted for such a long time that the art of the scent maker and that of the glove manufacturer became combined.
THE MANUFACTURE OF PERFUMES
Natural perfumes are a product of plant metabolism, and their highest form is found in the scent of fresh flowers, due to the occurrence in the petals of minute traces of essential oils. In the rose and in lavender this is in the free state, but in jasmine and the tuberose it is present in the form of a glucoside. These fragrant constituents are distributed in various parts of a number of plants, such as the blossoms, leaves, fruits, seeds, the bark, the wood and, in certain types of plant, the gums and oleo-resins.
The most popular scents are undoubtedly those made from blends of perfumes extracted from flowers, and this is an industry-or perhaps it should be termed an art—which is predominantly French. This is understandable, for it is a trade peculiarly suitable to the French temperament; moreover, a prerequisite for the extraction of perfume from flowers is flowers, and where better may these be grown in luxuriant abundance than on the Côte d'Azur?
For the past one hundred years at least, Grasse, that pleasant town clinging to the mountainside behind Cannes, has been the centre of the extraction industry. Over a wide area around the town most of the land is given over to floriculture, and from spring to autumn the countryside is a patchwork of colour, varying from the golden hues of the mimosa in the early part of the year, to the creamy-white of jasmine and the darker shades of lavender as summer draws to a close.
It has been estimated that to obtain just one kilogram of perfume, 8oo to 1,000 kilograms of blossoms are required, and altogether something like 1,500 tons of flowers are treated every year in the score or so of factories in Grasse. Every morning, large quantities of freshly-picked blooms are delivered to these factories. My last visit to Grasse coincided with the jasmine season, and in one of the largest factories in the town I saw great mounds of fragrant blossoms being processed.
At one time the perfume was extracted from the flowers by treating them with steam in a tort. This method served very well with the Ludy type of blossom, such as lavender, but For the more delicate flowers a much more elaborate process, known as enfleurage, was used, the blossoms being placed on sheets of less which ad been covered with a thin layer effect. When the fat has become saturated Viu perfume from the flowers, the perfume was extracted from the fat with alcohol which was subsequently removed from the perfume by distillation. This process, or a slightly more modern version of it, is still used, but it is very costly.
HOW PETROLEUM PLAYS ITS PART
In the early years of this century, one of the leading perfumers in Grasse hit upon the idea of using a volatile solvent for the continuous extraction of the perfume from flowers, and employed ethyl ether for this purpose. This was a great improvement, but not the complete answer, and it was not long before the ethyl ether was replaced by a special spirit, known as Essence B, supplied by the Shell Berre Petit Couronne Refinery.
The process is briefly as follows. Large quantities of flowers are placed upon perforated trays in air-tight percolators. The Essence B then circulates through the apertures in the trays, becomes impregnated with the natural perfume, and is then drawn off from the bottom of the percolators and pumped into a still where, under vacuum, the essence is distilled, the perfume remaining at the bottom of the retort. This perfume is a thick, syrupy liquid, known as 'concrete'. This 'concrete' is then treated with alcohol to remove certain impurities, and after distillation, the 'absolute' perfume is obtained. The utmost care is necessary when refining Essence B, as the slightest odour would render it unsuitable for the treatment of the flowers.
In addition to the production of the natural oils and concretes, several of the Grasse factories now produce synthetic perfumes, as the output of natural oils is insufficient to meet the demands of the perfume industry.
Among the synthetic oils manufactured at Grasse are those known as ionones, the basis of the oil of violets. Acetone of extreme purity, produced at the Shell Saint-Gobain chemical plant at Berre L'Etang, near Marseilles, has played a leading part in the large-scale development of ionone synthesis. Tertiary butyl alcohol is used in the manufacture of synthetic musk, and both the natural and the synthetic branches of the industry are now using isopropyl ether and isopropyl alcohol (also supplied from Berre Refinery) as extraction solvents,
THE ART OF THE PERFUMER
As even on the Riviera flowers do not bloom all the year-round, the question may well be asked, what goes on in the Grasse perfumeries during the winter months? The answer is simple enough. When flowers are not available, other parts of the plant are processed. I should make it clear here that the concretes and absolute oils are only part of the ingredients necessary for the making of perfumes. The scents one buys in a shop are very complex blends of many of the basic materials produced in Grasse. It is, for example, necessary to blend several absolute oils and then to add either a little musk or a little ambergris to impart 'body' to the perfume. A trace of civet may also be added, for strangely enough this pungent odour acts as a foil to the blend of wholly delectable floral perfumes, which a woman uses to enhance her charm or a man buys for her as a means of winning her favours - or as a peace offering,
In the brief Riviera winter, then, orris root, oak moss, aromatic barks, gums and violet leaves are processed and are used mostly as fixatives, petroleum again playing an important part, usually in the form of a solvent.
Grasse provides the basic materials for the blender, who brings to his art subtlety, refinement, restraint and innate good taste. The imagination of the true artist can be given free rein, as the composition of a perfume is a creative achievement. The French hold, and with considerable justification, that there is only one place in the world where the artist in perfumes will find his true inspiration and be able to create truly distinctive and elegant perfumes. And that, of course, is Paris.
Perfumes are inclined to be temperamental, and a scent that suits one woman admirably may fail completely with another person. One type of perfume may be ideal for a blonde and another for a brunette, and most women know how to select their perfumes with discretion. Menfolk who are contemplating giving their wives or girlfriends (or both) perfume for Christmas would, therefore, be well advised to take care with their purchases. But having chosen the right one, no gift is more welcome to the majority of women.
K.B.S.
(Reproduced from Shell Magazine. 1955)
