THE GERANIUM FAMILY IN PERFUMERY common to country gardens in Southern England, and a slight bruising of the foliage immediately releases a sweet lemon-verbena fragrance. The particular reference to "balm" as anything which heals or soothes pain arises from the query made in Jeremiah, viii, 22: "Is there no balm in Gilead is there no physician there ?..." and although it would appear that balm and balsam are in ordinary parlance interchangeable terms, yet from the perfumery angie we must allocate t o them very special meanings, more particularly as I find in the botanical texts a considerable divergence of opinion. For example, balm of Gilead (or Mecca) may properly be described as the thick syrupy liquid extracted from the sticky, resinous and balsamic-odoured buds of Populus balsamifera, N.O. Salicaceae, while balsam of Mecca {or Roghen) would seem to be more correctly listed under Balsamodendron Gileadense, N.O. Amyridaceae, the Abyssinian myrrh trees, amongst which are found B. mukul, the Bdellium of the Scriptures. Due allowance should, however, be afforded to our understanding of the odour and physical appearance of the familiar balsams of Copaiba, elemi, Peru and tolu, and so on, belonging to the N.O. Leguminosae and originating in South America, as compared with the materia rn•dica of Biblical times, for other authorities consider as the source of the Gileadense balm, trees in- digenous to the Syrian-Grecian archipelago, such members of the N.O. Anacardiaceae as Pistacia lenticus, the lentisk or common mastic tree, and P. terebinthus, the Algerian or Barberry turpentine tree, from which were obtained, by natural or artificially induced exudations, fragrant products of a liquid, balsamic or resinous consistency which underwent certain changes upon ageing and/or exposure to air. This listing may be concluded with mention of Balanites (or Ximenia) Aegyptiaca, N.O. Olacaceae, the Persian zachun-oil tree, and particularly Cedronella tryphylla, N.O. Labiatae, named from the Greek: kedron ---- the cedar, in reference to the fragrant resinous scent of its foliage. This latter plant, also listed as Dracocephalum canariense, dragon's-head balm, is said to have extensive usage among Indian women of to-day, as providing an excellent and fragrant shampoo. BALSAMITA--A TRUE BALSAMIC FRAGRANCE ? Although we may observe within the Gerania ceae instances of the varying proportional mergers of the balmy lemon-verbena nuance with the benzoin- labdanum type of balsamic fragrance and various balsamic-vanilla shadings among the spice trees and myrtle blooms, yet for a long tinhe I have held the opinion that somewhere there should be found a source to yield an un- trammelled "quintessence of balsam," and this I believe to exist in a herb seldom seen these days and difficult to locate in the literature.

16 JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY OF COSMETIC CHEMISTS I refer to Chryst, nthemum balsamira, also known as Balsamira vulgaris, N.O. Compositae, and bearing the almost forgotten names of maudeline, alecost or costmary (Costus Maria), Costis being a generic Greek term for certain spicy roots, and in the days when ale was home-brewed, costmary was usually added to impart an agreeable sharp tang to the beverage, hence the name alecost. Costmary is a shade-loving plant growing some two feet high, bearing insignificant greenish white flowers. The scent of the living plant has been described as giving an initial impression similar to that of a weak mint sauce, but the foliage, upon bruising, reveals a unique fragrance which I can best liken by a liaison of iso-butyl cinnamate and methyl ionone slightly shaded with carvone. We may perhaps recollect that the advent of clary sage into perfumery was as recent as 1909, and it is very probable in my opinion that should this equally modest herb--or some of its near relations, such as B. cornuta, the red-flowered Asiatic "horned balsam"---ever achieve commercial impor- tance, it would prove to be a valuable alternative to clary sage, for among the other virtues which I believe it to possess, a hint from an old Herbal indicates that not only does it confer a delicious scent to potpourri, but intensifies the fragrance of all the ingredients therein. BALSAMIC EPITOME I have taken this opportunity in dealing with the balsams on their own terrain to digress somewhat upon the balm and balsatalc motif, because, although prior consideration has already partly positioned this redolence in the essay upon Labdanum and Cistaceae? as well as the balm and balsam liaison as noted in the Hypericaceae (St. John's-worts), I would regard these sources as a prelude to a longer chapter, for among natural fragrance there is considerable evidence of the balm or lemon-verbena nuance, either dominant or merging with the balsamic, while the transition of the latter into the "aromatic" by the gradual acquisition of such osmophores as vanilla, cinna- mon and clove provides the pattern for an extensive range of tropical blossom odours in many of which the citrous element again emerges. MINOR MEMBERS OF THE GERANIUM FAMILY Among the lesser-known members of this unique family are the Lim- nanthes (Latin: limnus = a marsh). These are dwarf hardy annuals known as the Californian marsh flowers, of which L. Douglasii is a typical example. As found in the wild state, particularly in South-East England, its pretty little yellow and white flowers have earned for it the local name of "eggs and bacon." This plant, as well as L. rosea and L. alba, is a favourite with the bees and possesses a sweet melissa-like fragrance--a further example of the incidence of the citrous nuance found within this N.O.