OCCASIONAL RECOURSE to a diction- ary is a useful process, for thereby ß i{'i!i" an idea is often engendered which, •:7'• by association, can be suitably -', expanded. For instance, on turning ß :•:i:to "perfume," one is reminded that :ii':. the noun defines a substance which emits a sweet odour, an agreeable scent or fragrance' while the. verb : :Suggests an ability to fill or impreg- nate with a grateful odour--grateful in the sense of affording pleasure-- and, regarding "scent," this agrees "' with fragrant, as diffusing an agree~ able perfume or sweet smell. Such an observation may, of course, be somewhat commonplace, •.. but the point I wish to make is the emphasis upon sweetness and the •': absence of any floral connotation. My choice of the title of this paper has been prompted partly as a complement to my previous remarks upon "Non-Floral Perfumes" which appeared in the November 1952 issue of this journal, and also to afford me an opportunity of record- ing some observations on the natural flower odours, in contradistinction to what may perhaps be termed the modern "Complex Floral Perfumes." However, before developing a * Chief Chemist, Messrs. A. G. Hersom, Kingston-upon-Thames, Surrey. SIMPLE FLORAL PERFUMES By E. S. MAURER, F.C.S., M.R.I.* theme upon the elementary florals, I think it opportune to review quite briefly the background of the litera- ture, rather than to append a mere sequence of references. I have, therefore, taken as a source-book Edward Sagarin's "Science and Art of Perfumery," because its Appendix "A" constitutes a very concise bibliography. In the 130 or so books quoted in this reference it is noted that most of them are devoted to the technical study of the production, chemistry, constituents and analytical data concerning the essential oils while a smaller selection is composed of the various recipe-books dealing . with the manufacture of perfumes, toilet waters and cosmetics, I find, however, that among this collection there are apparently only three important volumes which treat in any detailed fashion with the theory and pra•:tice of composing a per- fume, namely, Winter's "Riechstoffe und Parf•imierungstechnik" (Vienna, 1933', Wagner's "Die Parf(imie- industrie (Halle, 1928), and the "Formulaire du Chimiste-parfumeur et du savonnier" of R. M. Gattefoss• (Paris, 1932). These texts, in turn, are chiefly of interest to the advanced practitioner and obviously cover 179

JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY OF COSMETIC CHEMISTS much ground with which, naturally, he is already familiar. For the tyro perfumer, however, there does not seem to be available any "Elements of Perfumery" com- parable to the many primers upon harmonics in music, or the applica- tion of the principles of colour combination, written for the benefit of art students. I am frilly aware that, in respect of this lacuna, there is a reason for a certain amount of reticence. Never- theless, I should like to put on record some observations upon what I venture to term the "mechanics of perfumery," as I think that collec- tively these should prove of general interest and, moreover, capable of individual interpretation and adap- tation. THE WORK OF S•?TX•US PXESSE In an endearour to find a suitable point of departure I considered it expedient to turn to what is probably the widest-known of the earlier texts of our subject, namely, the "Art of Perfumery" of Septimus Piesse. Bearing in mind the wealth of infor- mation contained therein, I am of the opinion that this work is fully entitled to the appellation of the "Perfumer's Bible," especially as it has also been made available in French, German and Italian, and it would seem that almost every author of similar works appearing during the past three or four decades has formulated his contribution upon the Piesse pattern, namely, by including an introductory materia aromatica and following this by recipes or prescriptions for the "dispensing" of floral and bouquet perfumes, and concluding with a toilet and cosmetic formulary. I am strongly of the opinion that the point of outstanding interest of this work (although it is now nearly a century since the first edition of the "Art" appeared in London in 1855) is that the sum total of the common knowledge of his time which Piesse recorded covers such an extensive background. Bearing in mind the date just mentioned, it should also be of interest to those who have not had an opportunity of examining this text, which is becoming somewhat difficult to acquire, to appreciate something of the underlying artistic technique of this "Master of Perfumery" in handling the simple florals, for he says: "Scents, like sounds, appear to influence the olfactory nerve in certain definite degrees. There is, as it were, an octave of odours like an octave in music certain odours coincide, like the keys of an instru- ment. Such as almond, heliotrope, vanilla and clematis blend together, each producing different degrees of a nearly similar impression. Again, we have citron, lemon', orange peel and verbena, forming a higher octave of smells, which blend in a similar manner. The analogy is completed by what we are pleased to call semi- odours, suck as rose and rose-geran- ium for the half~note petitgrain, neroli, a black key, followed by fleur d'oranger. Then we have patchouli, sandalwood and vetivert, and many others running into each other." 180