The Art of Perfumery, and Methods of Obtaining the Odors of Plants Part 19

1. Take sheets of light cartridge paper, and dip them into a solution of alum--say, alum, one ounce; water, one pint. After they are thoroughly moistened, let them be well dried; upon one side of this paper spread a mixture of equal parts of gum benzoin, olibanum, and either balm of Tolu or Peruvian balsam, or the benzoin may be used alone. To spread the gum, &c., it is necessary that they be melted in an earthenware vessel and poured thinly over the paper, finally smoothing the surface with a hot spatula. When required for use, slips of this paper are held over a candle or lamp, in order to evaporate the odorous matter, but not to ignite it. The alum in the paper prevents it a to certain extent from burning.

2. Sheets of good light paper are to be steeped in a solution of saltpetre, in the proportions of two ounces of the salt to one pint of water, to be afterwards thoroughly dried.

Any of the odoriferous gums, as myrrh, olibanum, benzoin, &c., are to be dissolved to saturation in rectified spirit, and with a brush spread upon one side of the paper, which, being hung up, rapidly dries.

Slips of this paper are to be rolled up as spills, to be ignited, and then to be blown out.

The nitre in the paper causes a continuance of slow combustion, diffusing during that time the agreeable perfume of the odoriferous gums. If two of these sheets of paper be pressed together before the surface is dry, they will join and become as one. When cut into slips, they form what are called Odoriferous Lighters, or Perfumed Spills.

SECTION VIII.

PERFUMED SOAP.

The word soap, or sope, from the Greek _sapo_, first occurs in the works of Pliny and Galen. Pliny informs us that soap was first discovered by the Gauls, that it was composed of tallow and ashes, and that the German soap was reckoned the best. According to Sismondi, the French historian, a soapmaker was included in the retinue of Charlemagne.

At Pompeii (overwhelmed by an eruption of Vesuvius A.D. 79), a soap-boiler's shop with soap in it was discovered during some excavations made there not many years ago. (_Starke's Letters from Italy._)

From these statements it is evident that the manufacture of soap is of very ancient origin; indeed, Jeremiah figuratively mentions it--"For though thou wash thee with natron, and take thee much soap, yet thine iniquity is marked before me." (Jer. 2:22.)

Mr. Wilson says that the earliest record of the soap trade in England is to be found in a pamphlet in the British Museum, printed in 1641, ent.i.tled "A short Account of the Soap Business." It speaks more particularly about the duty, which was then levied for the first time, and concerning certain patents which were granted to persons, chiefly Popish recusants, for some pretended new invention of white soap, "which in truth was not so." Sufficient is said here to prove that at that time soap-making was no inconsiderable art.

It would be out of place here to enter into the details of soap-making, because perfumers do not manufacture that substance, but are merely "remelters," to use a trade term. The dyer purchases his dye-stuffs from the drysalters already fabricated, and these are merely modified under his hands to the various purposes he requires; so with the perfumer, he purchases the various soaps in their raw state from the soap-makers, these he mixes by remelting, scents and colors according to the article to be produced.

The primary soaps are divided into hard and soft soaps: the hard soaps contain soda as the base; those which are soft are prepared with potash.

These are again divisible into varieties, according to the fatty matter employed in their manufacture, also according to the proportion of alkali. The most important of these to the perfumer is what is termed curd soap, as it forms the basis of all the highly-scented soaps.

CURD SOAP is a nearly neutral soap, of pure soda and fine tallow.

OIL SOAP, as made in England, is an uncolored combination of olive oil and soda, hard, close grain, and contains but little water in combination.

CASTILE SOAP, as imported from Spain, is a similar combination, but is colored by protosulphate of iron. The solution of the salt being added to the soap after it is manufactured, from the presence of alkali, decomposition of the salt takes place, and protoxide of iron is diffused through the soap of its well-known black color, giving the familiar marbled appearance to it. When the soap is cut up into bars, and exposed to the air, the protoxide pa.s.ses by absorption of oxygen into peroxide; hence, a section of a bar of Castile soap shows the outer edge red-marbled, while the interior is black-marbled. Some Castile soap is not artificially colored, but a similar appearance is produced by the use of a barilla or soda containing sulphuret of the alkaline base, and at other times from the presence of an iron salt.

MARINE SOAP is a cocoanut-oil soap, of soda containing a great excess of alkali, and much water combination.

YELLOW SOAP is a soda soap, of tallow, resin, of lard, &c. &c.

PALM SOAP is a soda soap of palm oil, retaining the peculiar odor and color of the oil unchanged. The odoriferous principle of palm oil resembling that from orris-root, can be dissolved out of it by tincturation with alcohol; like ottos generally, it remains intact in the presence of an alkali, hence, soap made of palm oil retains the odor of the oil.

The public require a soap that will not shrink and change shape after they purchase it. It must make a profuse lather during the act of was.h.i.+ng. It must not leave the skin rough after using it. It must be either quite inodorous or have a pleasant aroma. None of the above soaps possess all these qualities in union, and, therefore, to produce such an article is the object of the perfumer in his remelting process.

Prior to the removal of the excise duty upon soap, in 1853, it was a commercial impossibility for a perfumer to _manufacture_ soap, because the law did not allow less than one ton of soap to be made at a time.

This law, which, with certain modifications had been in force since the reign of Charles I, confined the actual manufacture of that article to the hands of a few capitalists. Such law, however, was but of little importance to the perfumer, as a soap-boiling plant and apparatus is not very compatible with a laboratory of flowers; yet, in some exceptional instances, these excise regulations interfered with him; such, for instance, as that in making soft soap of lard and potash, known, when perfumed, as _Creme d'Amande_; or unscented, as a Saponaceous Cream, which has, in consequence of that law, been entirely thrown into the hands of our continental neighbors.

FIG SOFT SOAP is a combination of oils, princ.i.p.ally olive oil of the commonest kind, with potash.

NAPLES SOFT SOAP is a fish oil (mixed with Lucca oil) and potash, colored brown for the London shavers, retaining, when pure, its unsophisticated "fishy" odor.

The above soaps const.i.tute the real body or base of all the fancy scented soaps as made by the perfumers, which are mixed and remelted according to the following formula:--

The remelting process is exceedingly simple. The bar soap is first cut up into thin slabs, by pressing them against a wire fixed upon the working bench. This cutting wire (piano wire is the kind) is made taut upon the bench, by being attached to two screws. These screws regulate the height of the wire from the bench, and hence the thickness of the slabs from the bars. The soap is cut up into thin slabs, because it would be next to impossible to melt a bar whole, on account of soap being one of the worst conductors of heat.

The melting pan is an iron vessel, of various sizes, capable of holding from 28 lbs. to 3 cwt., heated by a steam jacket, or by a water-bath.

The soap is put into the pan by degrees, or what is in the vernacular called "rounds," that is, the thin slabs are placed perpendicularly all round the side of the pan; a few ounces of water are at the same time introduced, the steam of which a.s.sists the melting. The pan being covered up, in about half an hour the soap will have "run down." Another round is then introduced, and so continued every half hour until the whole "melting" is finished. The more water a soap contains, the easier is it melted; hence a round of marine soap, or of new yellow soap, will run down in half the time that it requires for old soap.

When different soaps are being remelted to form one kind when finished, the various sorts are to be inserted into the pan in alternate rounds, but each round must consist only of one kind, to insure uniformity of condition. As the soap melts, in order to mix it, and to break up lumps, &c., it is from time to time "_crutched_." The "crutch" is an instrument or tool for stirring up the soap; its name is indicative of its form, a long handle with a short cross--an inverted 'T', curved to fit the curve of the pan. When the soaps are all melted, it is then colored, if so required, and then the perfume is added, the whole being thoroughly incorporated with the crutch.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Frame and Slab Gauge.]

The soap is then turned into the "frame." The frame is a box made in sections, in order that it can be taken to pieces, so that the soap can be cut up when cold; the sections or "lifts" are frequently made of the width of the intended bar of soap.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Barring Gauge.]

Two or three days after the soap has been in the frame, it is cool enough to cut into slabs of the size of the lifts or sections of the frame; these slabs are set up edgeways to cool for a day or two more; it is then barred by means of a wire. The lifts of the frame regulate the widths of the bars; the gauge regulates their breadth. The density of the soap being pretty well known, the gauges are made so that the soap-cutter can cut up the bars either into fours, sixes, or eights; that is, either into squares of four, six, or eight to the pound weight.

Latterly, various mechanical arrangements have been introduced for soap-cutting, which in very large establishments, such as those at Ma.r.s.eilles in France, are great economisers of labor; but in England the "wire" is still used.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Squaring Gauge.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Soap Scoop.]

For making tablet shapes the soap is first cut into squares, and is then put into a mould, and finally under a press--a modification of an ordinary die or coin press. b.a.l.l.s are cut by hand, with the aid of a little tool called a "scoop," made of bra.s.s or ivory, being, in fact, a ring-shaped knife. b.a.l.l.s are also made in the press with a mould of appropriate form. The grotesque form and fruit shape are also obtained by the press and appropriate moulds. The fruit-shaped soaps, after leaving the mould, are dipped into melted wax, and are then colored according to artificial fruit-makers' rules.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Soap Press.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Moulds.]

The "variegated" colored soaps are produced by adding the various colors, such as smalt and vermilion, previously mixed with water, to the soap in a melted state; these colors are but slightly crutched in, hence the streaky appearance or party color of the soap; this kind is also termed "marbled" soap.

ALMOND SOAP.

This soap, by some persons "supposed" to be made of "sweet almond oil,"

and by others to be a mystic combination of sweet and bitter almonds, is in reality const.i.tuted thus:--

Finest curd soap, 1 cwt.

" oil soap, 14 lbs.

" marine, 14 lbs.

Otto of almonds, 1-1/2 lb.

" cloves, 1/4 lb.

" caraway, 1/2 lb.

By the time that half the curd soap is melted, the marine soap is to be added; when this is well crutched, then add the oil soap, and finish with the remaining curd. When the whole is well melted, and just before turning it into the frame, crutch in the mixed perfume.

Some of the soap "houses" endeavored to use Mirabane or artificial essence of almonds (see ALMOND) for perfuming soap, it being far cheaper than the true otto of almonds; but the application has proved so unsatisfactory in practice, that it has been abandoned by Messrs. Gibbs, Pineau (of Paris), Gosnell, and others who used it.

CAMPHOR SOAP.