Parts eleven and twelve of the book "The Art of Perfume Making and Methods of Obtaining Plant Scents"
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| Parts eleven and twelve of the book "The Art of Perfume Making and Methods of Obtaining Plant Scents" |
COLD CREAM.
Galen, the celebrated physician of Pergamos, in Asia, but who distinguished himself at Athens, Alexandria, and Rome, about 1700 years ago, was the inventor of that peculiar unguent, a mixture of grease and water, which is now distinguished as cold cream in perfumery, and as Ceratum Galeni in Pharmacy.
The modern formula for cold cream is, however, quite a different thing to that given in the works of Galen in point of odor and quality, although substantially the same—grease and water. In perfumery there are several kinds of cold cream, distinguished by their odor, such as that of camphor, almond, violet, roses, &c. Cold cream, as made by English perfumers, bears a high reputation, not only at home, but throughout Europe; the quantity exported, and which can only be reckoned by jars in hundreds of dozens, and the repeated announcements that may be seen in the shops on the Continent, in Germany, France, and Italy, of "Cold Crême Anglaise," is good proof of the estimation in which it is held.
Rose Cold Cream.
Manipulation.—Into a well-glazed thick porcelain vessel, which should be deep in preference to shallow, and capable of holding twice the quantity of cream that is to be made, place the wax and sperm; now put the jar into a boiling bath of water; when these materials are melted, add the oil, and again subject the whole to heat until the flocks of wax and sperm are liquefied; now remove the jar and contents, and set it under a runner containing the rose-water: the runner may be a tin can, with a small tap at the bottom, the same as used for the manufacture of milk of roses. A stirrer must be provided, made of lancewood, flat, and perforated with holes the size of a sixpence, resembling in form a large palette-knife. As soon as the rose-water is set running, the cream must be kept agitated until the whole of the water has passed into it; now and then the flow of water must be stopped, and the cream which sets at the sides of the jar scraped down, and incorporated with that which remains fluid. When the whole of the water has been incorporated, the cream will be cool enough to pour into the jars for sale; at that time the otto of rose is to be added. The reason for the perfume being put in at the last moment is obvious—the heat and subsequent agitation would cause unnecessary loss by evaporation. Cold cream made in this way sets quite firmly in the jars into which it is poured, and retains "a face" resembling pure wax, although one-half is water retained in the interstices of the cream. When the pots are well glazed, it will keep good for one or two years. If desired for exportation to the East or West Indies, it should always be sent out in stoppered bottles.
Cold Cream of Almonds
Huile violette, 1 lb.
Violet Cold Cream. Imitation.
Otto of almonds, 1/4 drachm.
Are prepared in similar manner to violet (first form); they are all very exquisite preparations, but as they cost more than rose cold cream, perfumers are not much inclined to introduce them in lieu of the latter.
Camphor Cold Cream. (Otherwise Camphor Ice.)
Melt the camphor, wax, and sperm, in the oil, then manipulate as for cold cream of roses.
Cucumber Cold Cream. (Crême de Concombre.)
The cucumber juice is readily obtained by subjecting the fruit to pressure in the ordinary tincture press. It must be raised to a temperature high enough to coagulate the small portion of albumen which it contains, and then strained through fine linen, as the heat is detrimental to the odor on account of the great volatility of the otto of cucumber. The following method may be adopted with advantage:—Slice the fruit very fine with a cucumber-cutter, and place them in the oil; after remaining together for twenty-four hours, repeat the operation, using fresh fruit in the strained oil; no warmth is necessary, or at most, not more than a summer heat; then proceed to make the cold cream in the usual manner, using the almond oil thus odorized, the rose-water, and other ingredients in the regular way, perfuming, if necessary, with a little neroli.
Another and commoner preparation of cucumber is found among the Parisians, which is lard simply scented with the juice from the fruit, thus:—The lard is liquefied by heat in a vessel subject to a water-bath; the cucumber juice is then stirred well into it; the vessel containing the ingredients is now placed in a quiet situation to cool. The lard will rise to the surface, and when cold must be removed from the fluid juice; the same manipulation being repeated as often as required, according to the strength of odor of the fruit desired in the grease.
Pivers' Pomade of Cucumber.
Melt the stearine with the lard, then keep it constantly in motion while it cools, now beat the grease in a mortar, gradually adding the essence of cucumbers; continue to beat the whole until the spirit is evaporated, and the pomade is beautifully white.
Melons and other similar fruit will scent grease treated in the same way. (See "Essence of Cucumbers," p. 204.)
Pomade Divine.
Among the thousand and one quack nostrums, pomade divine, like James's powder, has obtained a reputation far above the most sanguine expectations of its concoctors. This article strictly belongs to the druggist, being sold as a remedial agent; nevertheless, what is sold is almost always vended by the perfumer. It is prepared thus:—
Digest the whole in a vessel heated by a water-bath at a temperature not exceeding 90° C. After five or six hours it is fit to strain, and may be poured into the bottles for sale. (Must be stamped if its medicinal qualities are stated.)
Almond Balls.
Glycerine Balsam.
Place the wax, sperm, and oil on to the alkanet root in a vessel heated by steam or water-bath; after the materials are melted, they must digest on the alkanet to extract its color for at least four or five hours; finally, strain through fine muslin, then add the perfume just before it cools.
White Lip Salve.
After lip salve is poured into the pots and got cold, a red-hot iron must be held over them for a minute or so, in order that the heat radiated from the irons may melt the surface of the salve and give it an even face.
Is made simply of equal parts of lard and suet, colored with alkanet root, and perfumed with an ounce of bergamot to every pound of salve.
SECTION XII.
POMADES AND OILS.
The name of pomatum is derived from pomum, an apple, because it was originally made by macerating over-ripe apples in grease.
If an apple be stuck all over with spice, such as cloves, then exposed to the air for a few days, and afterwards macerated in purified melted lard, or any other fatty matter, the grease will become perfumed. Repeating the operation with the same grease several times, produces real "pomatum."
According to a recipe published more than a century ago the form given is:—"Kid's grease, an orange sliced, pippins, a glass of rose-water, and half a glass of white wine, boiled and strained, and at last sprinkled with oil of sweet almonds." The author, Dr. Quincy, observes, that "the apple is of no significance at all in the recipe," and, like many authors of the present day, concludes that the reader is as well acquainted with the subject as the writer, and therefore considers that the weights or bulk of the materials in his recipe are, likewise, of no significance. According to ancient writers, unguent, pomatum, ointment, are synonymous titles for medicated and perfumed greases. Among biblical interpreters, the significant word is mostly rendered "ointment;" thus we have in Prov. 27:9, "Ointment and perfume rejoice the heart;" in Eccles. 9:8, "Let thy head lack no ointment."
Perfumers, acting upon their own or Dr. Quincy's advice, pay no regard to the apples in the preparation of pomatum, but make it by perfuming lard or suet, or a mixture of wax, spermaceti, and oil, or some of them or all blended, to produce a particular result, according to the name that it bears.
The most important thing to consider in the manufacture of pomatum, &c., is to start off with a perfectly inodorous grease, whatever that grease may be.
Inodorous lard is obtained thus:—Take, say 28 lbs. of perfectly fresh lard, place it in a well-glazed vessel, that can be submitted to the heat of a boiling salt-water bath, or by steam under a slight pressure; when the lard is melted, add to it one ounce of powdered alum and two ounces of table salt; maintain the heat for some time, in fact till a scum rises, consisting in a great measure of coagulated proteine compounds, membrane, &c., which must be skimmed off; when the liquid grease appears of a uniform nature it is allowed to grow cold.
The lard is now to be washed. This is done in small portions at a time, and is a work of much labor, which, however, is amply repaid by the result. About a pound of the grease is now placed on a slate slab a little on the incline, a supply of good water being set to trickle over it; the surface of the grease is then constantly renewed by an operative working a muller over it, precisely as a color-maker grinds paints in oil. In this way the water removes any traces of alum or salt, also the last traces of nitrogenous matter. Finally, the grease, when the whole is washed in this way, is remelted, the heat being maintained enough to drive off any adhering water. When cold it is finished.
Although purifying grease in this way is troublesome, and takes a good deal of time, yet unless done so, it is totally unfit for perfuming with flowers, because a bad grease will cost more in perfume to cover its mal odeur than the expense of thus deodorizing it. Moreover, if lard be used that "smells of the pig," it is next to impossible to impart to it any delicate odor; and if strongly perfumed by the addition of ottos, the unpurified grease will not keep, but quickly becomes rancid. Under any circumstances, therefore, grease that is not perfectly inodorous is a very expensive material to use in the manufacture of pomades.
In the South and flower-growing countries, where the fine pomades are made by Enfleurage, or by Maceration[ (see pp. 37, 38), the purification of grease for the purpose of these manufactures is of sufficient importance to become a separate trade.
The purification of beef and mutton suet is in a great measure the same as that for lard: the greater solidity of suets requires a mechanical arrangement for washing them of a more powerful nature than can be applied by hand labor. Mr. Ewen, who is undoubtedly the best fat-purifier in London, employs a stone roller rotating upon a circular slab; motion is given to the roller by an axle which passes through the centre of the slab, or rather stone bed, upon which the suet is placed; being higher in the centre than at the sides, the stream of water flows away after it has once passed over the suet; in other respects the treatment is the same as for lard. These greases used by perfumers have a general title of "body," tantamount to the French nomenclature of corps; thus we have pomades of hard corps (suet), pomades of soft corps (lard). For making extraits, such as extrait de violette, jasmin, the pomades of hard corps are to be preferred; but when scented pomade is to be used in fabrication of unguents for the hair, pomades of soft corps are the most useful.
The method of perfuming grease by the direct process with flowers having already been described under the respective names of the flowers that impart the odor thereto, it remains now only to describe those compounds that are made from them, together with such incidental matter connected with this branch of perfumery as has not been previously mentioned.
Acacia Pomade, commonly called Cassie Pomatum, is made with a purified body-grease, by maceration with the little round yellow buds of the Acacia Farnesiana.
Black currant leaves, and which the French term cassie, have an odor very much resembling cassie (acacia), and are used extensively for adulterating the true acacia pomades and oils. The near similarity of name, their analogous odor (although the plants have no botanical connection), together with the word cassia, a familiar perfume in England, has produced generally confused ideas in this country as to the true origin of the odor now under discussion. Cassie, casse, cassia, it will be understood now, are three distinct substances; and in order to render the matter more perspicuous in future, the materials will always be denominated Acacia, if prepared from the Acacia Farnesiana; Casse, when from black currant; and Cassia, if derived from the bark of the Cinnamomum Cassia.
Benzoin Pomade and Oil.
Benzoic acid is perfectly soluble in hot grease. Half an ounce of benzoic acid being dissolved in half a pint of hot olive or almond oil, deposits on cooling beautiful acicular crystals, similar to the crystals that effloresce from vanilla beans; a portion of the acid, however, remains dissolved in the oil at the ordinary temperature, and imparts to it the peculiar aroma of benzoin; upon this idea is based the principle of perfuming grease with gum benzoin by the direct process, that is, by macerating powdered gum benzoin in melted suet or lard for a few hours, at a temperature of about 80° C. to 90° C. Nearly all the gum-resins give up their odoriferous principle to fatty bodies, when treated in the same way; this fact becoming generally known, will probably give rise to the preparation of some new remedial ointments, such as Unguentum myrrhæ, Unguentum assafœtida, and the like.
Tonquin Pomade, and Tonquin Oil, are prepared by macerating the ground Tonquin beans in either melted fat or warm oil, from twelve to twenty-eight hours, in the proportion of
Strain through fine muslin; when cold, the grease will have a fine odor of the beans.
Vanilla Oil and Pomade.
Macerate at a temperature of 25° C. for three or four days; finally strain.
These pomatums and oils, together with the French pomades and huiles already described, constitute the foundation of the preparations of all the best hair greases sold by perfumers. Inferior scented pomatums and oils are prepared by perfuming lard, suet, wax, oil, &c., with various ottos; the results, however, in many instances more expensive than the foregoing, are actually inferior in their odor or bouquet—for grease, however slightly perfumed by maceration or enfleurage with flowers, is far more agreeable to the olfactory nerve than when scented by ottos.
The most popular and "original" bears' grease is made thus:—
Melt the solid greases and oils together by a water-bath, then add the ottos.
Purified lard, 1 lb.Benzoin suet, 1 lb.French rose pomatum, 1/2 lb.Almond oil, colored with alkanet, 2 lbs.Otto of rose, 1/4 oz.
Balsam of Flowers.
Crystallized Oil. (First quality).
Crystallized Oil. (Second quality.)
Melt the spermaceti in a vessel heated by a water-bath, then add the oils; continue the heat until all flocks disappear; let the jars into which it is poured be warm; cool as slowly as possible, to insure good crystals; if cooled rapidly, the mass congeals without the appearance of crystals. This preparation has a very nice appearance, and so far sells well; but its continued use for anointing the hair renders the head scurfy; indeed, the crystals of sperm may be combed out of the hair in flakes after it has been used a week or two.
Castor Oil Pomatum.
Balsam of Neroli.
Marrow Cream.
Marrow Pomatum.
Purified lard, 4 lbs." suet, 2 lbs.Otto of lemon, 1 oz." bergamot, 1/2 oz." cloves, 3 drachms.
Melt the greases, then beat them up with a whisk or flat wooden spatula for half an hour or more; as the grease cools, minute vesicles of air are inclosed by the pomatum, which not only increase the bulk of the mixtures, but impart a peculiar mechanical aggregation, rendering the pomatum light and spongy; in this state it is obvious that it fills out more profitably than otherwise.
Common Violet Pomatum.
Manipulate as for marrow pomatum.
In all the cheap preparations for the hair, the manufacturing perfumers used the washed French pomatums and the washed French oils for making their greases. Washed pomatums and washed oils are those greases that originally have been the best pomatums and huiles prepared by enfleurage and by maceration with the flowers; which pomades and huiles have been subject to digestion in alcohol for the manufacture of essences for the handkerchief. After the spirit has been on the pomatums, &c., it is poured off; the residue is then called washed pomatum, and still retain an odor strong enough for the manufacture of most hair greases.
For pomatums of other odors it is only necessary to substitute rose, jasmine, tubereuse, and others, in place of the acacia pomatum in the above formulæ.
Pomade Double, Millefleurs.
Huile Antique. (A la Heliotrope.)
White wax, 10 oz.
Philocome. (Second quality.)
Fluid Philocome.
Color to the tint required with ground amber and sienna in oil; mix the ingredients by first melting the plaster in a vessel in boiling water. Lead plaster is made with oxide of lead boiled with olive oil: it is best to procure it ready made from the wholesale druggists.
Hard or Stick Pomatums.
Another Form,—cheaper.
Suet, 1 lb.Wax, 1/2 lb.Otto of bergamot, 1 oz." cassia, 1 drachm.
Such as is sold by Rimmel, is prepared with a nicely-scented soap strongly colored with lamp-black or with umber. The soap is melted, and the coloring added while the soap is soft; when cold it is cut up in oblong pieces.
It is used as a temporary dye for the moustache, applied with a small brush and water.
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of The Art of Perfumery, and Methods of Obtaining the Odors of Plants
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