JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY OF COSMETIC CHEMISTS single entities. The following sequence covers the fruity gamut from the coarse and pungent to the milder and more delicate tones: Group I : Banana-pineapple apple-pear peach-apricot. Group II: Citrus (as lemon- orange) greengage-gooseberry plum-blackberry. Group III: Grape-currants straw- berry-raspberry cherry-mulberry. The amount required for imparting the requisite light fruity nuance to perfume bases is very small. Refer- ence to the literature upon the flavottring essences indicates the complexity of these compositions, approximately two hundred esters, ethers, aldehydes, ketones, phenones and lactones being employed, the majority of which are outstanding in their aromatic strength and pungency. Consequently, for floral embellishment, considerable skill has to be exercised in order to reduce the blatancy of these compositions to a threshold minimum. In addition to the allyl and cyclo- hexanol esters and newer anthranil- ates, there have been quite a number of complex organic chemicals of flavour importance which have be- come prominent during the past decade and some of these, chiefly lactones, are remarkable in contain- ing within themselves tonal qualities hitherto only achieved by admix- tures, in small proportions, of a considerable number of materials. THE OENANTHIC NOTE The vinous or cognac fragrance, although particularly useful in forti- 202 fying the fruity adjuncts, can without exception be used to embellish any of the other adjuvants and in particu- lar the folial, verdure and herbaceous groups. The characteristic aroma is based largely upon oenanthic ether and other heptyl esters simple and substituted aliphatic anthranilates, and particularly phenylethyl an- thranilate and phenylethyl pelar- gonate. Supplementary aid is afford- ed by many of the caprylates and caprinates, also the di-methyl acetals of hexyl, heptyl and decyl aldehydes, and complex esters such as amyl capryl-caproate, from which many oenanthic shadings can be made, varying in tone, for instance, from vinous-honey to the dry, powdery. notes of grapevine leaves, thus re' turning us to the odours of the folial ß group, which headed this sequence of non-floral adjuvants. BIBLIOGRAPHY ' '471 • Glenn, J. "Floral or Fantasy fumes?" Soap, Perfumery and Cosmetics,: 1938, 245. "Exotic Wood ibid., 903, 1938. Vid• also the works of:: Piesse, Cerbelaud, Cola et al. ':•? a Anon. Mam4facturing Chemist, uary, 1939. a Cerbelaud, Ix., Branand, L., Sidi Vdlon. "Formulaire de Parfumerie.'.5• Revised, enlarged edition, 1951 Editions?•( Opira, Paris. ' Nicol, H. Pe,:fum•ry and Oil Record, March 1933 ß M'anufacluri•g ! Chemist, February 1936. Byers, J. R. "New Woody Odours." z•merican Perfz•mer, May 1947J ß Bordenca, Carl. Am'•rican P•rfumer• January 1947. , ? L'Eplattenier, J. J. "Na•denisedi Oils," Soap, P• 'fttmery and Cosm•lic$ • April 1952 Well• F.V. ibid. Iq'ovemb eili 1951 and August i952. ' '

COSMETICS AND DERMATITIS By E. J. MOYNAHAN, M.R.C.P.* •?!?MAXKIND HAS used cosmetics since }•,!i:i :' ear y palaeolithic times, and although !•: we cannot be certain that the con- ?i' nection between health and beauty i•!i: dates back so far, we know that there ii!. ! has been a dose relationship between i? medicine and the cosmetic art for a :::•1ong time. It is of some interest 5:-:that, among the earliest medical ?,:writings, we find several cosmetic :'.recipes in the Ebers Papyrus, and ,:-many references to such preparations - are to be found in the works of the early alchemists and herbalists. Until .. recently medicine has approached the problem of dermatitis empirically, and it is only witlain the present :. century that the scientific founda- tions for its study have been laid. :.• It had long been known that cos- metics produce reactions in the skin, but there was no scientific proof of ß : this until Kesten and Lazlo showed, in 1931, that nineteen out of twenty- one cases of dermatitis, due to cos- metics, gave positive patch tests to one or more ingredients in the preparation used. We owe a great deal to Sulzberger and his colleagues, who performed no fewer than ten thousand tests 6n a thousand sub- jects, and threw considerable light ß Assistant Physician, Dermatological Department, Guy's Hospital, London. on the commoner causes of trouble with cosmetics.. Very. few primary irritants are used in modern cosmetics: these include permanent waving agents, which attack the keratin fibres and break the disulphide linkages and other chemical bonds between adja- cent keratin molecules depilatories, with a closely related chemical action high concentrations of alkali, which reduce the sulphur in the disulphide hnks and rupture them in the same way and the oxidation hair dyes, such as paraphenylenediamine. Most cases of dermatitis produced by cosmetics are due to sensitisation to some substance in the preparation. It should be emphasised that such cases are extremely few, considering the large number of people who use cosmetics daily, year in, 'year out, without any ill effect on their skin. It speaks well for those engaged in the production and manufacture of these preparations that so little trouble follows their use. We doc- tors have not got such good records in this respect, -because a fair number of the preparations we use in the treatment of skin disease produce dermatitis, and some of the newer chemotherapeutic agents, such as sulphonamides and antibiotics (par- 203