The Art of Perfumery Part 25

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:--

Spermaceti, 1/4 lb.

Lard, 1/2 lb.

Almond oil, 3/4 lb.

Gum benzoin, 1/4 lb.

Vanilla beans, 1-1/2 oz.

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 b.a.l.l.s.

Purified suet, 1 lb.

White wax, 1/2 lb.

Otto of almonds, 1 drachm.

" cloves, 1/4 drachm.

CAMPHOR b.a.l.l.s.

Purified suet, 1 lb.

White wax, 1/2 lb.

Camphor, 1/4 lb.

Otto of French lavender or rosemary, 1/2 oz.

Both the above articles are sold either white or colored with alkanet root. When thoroughly melted, the material is cast in a mould; ounce gallipots with smooth bottoms answer very well for casting in. Some venders use only large pill-boxes.

CAMPHOR PASTE.

Sweet almond oil, 1/2 lb.

Purified lard, 1/4 lb.

Wax and spermaceti, } Camphor, } each, 1 oz.

GLYCERINE BALSAM.

White wax, } Spermaceti, } each, 1 oz.

Almond oil, 1/2 lb.

Glycerine, 2 oz.

Otto of roses, 1/4 drachm.

Of the remedial action of any of the above preparations we cannot here discuss; in giving the formulae, it is enough for us that they are sold by perfumers.

ROSE LIP SALVE.

Almond oil, 1/2 lb.

Spermaceti and wax, each, 2 oz.

Alkanet root, 2 oz.

Otto of roses, 1/4 drachm.

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.

Almond oil, 1/4 lb.

Wax and Spermaceti, each, 1 oz.

Otto of almonds, 1/2 drachm.

" geranium, 1/4 "

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.

COMMON LIP SALVE

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 gla.s.s of rose-water, and half a gla.s.s 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 t.i.tles 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 sc.u.m 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 circ.u.mstances, 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[G] (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 was.h.i.+ng 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 pa.s.ses 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 pa.s.sed over the suet; in other respects the treatment is the same as for lard. These greases used by perfumers have a general t.i.tle 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 Ca.s.sIE 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 _ca.s.sie_, have an odor very much resembling ca.s.sie (acacia), and are used extensively for adulterating the true acacia pomades and oils. The near similarity of name, their a.n.a.logous odor (although the plants have no botanical connection), together with the word _ca.s.sia_, a familiar perfume in England, has produced generally confused ideas in this country as to the true origin of the odor now under discussion. Ca.s.sie, ca.s.se, ca.s.sia, 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_; Ca.s.sE, when from _black currant_; and Ca.s.sIA, if derived from the bark of the _Cinnamomum Ca.s.sia_.