6 JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY OF COSMETIC CHEMISTS Zdravets, the foliage upon distillation yielding a greenish concrete having a. heavy, persistent clary sage-amber type of fragrance. Mention must also be afforded to another and somewhat unique fragrance to be found in the foliage of the scarlet-flowered G. moschatum, the muski- ness of which is very similar to the odour of balsam Peru oil. 'This brief survey, I believe, summarises all that can be usefully recorded regarding the genus Geranium, in so far that the geranium-rose fragrance does not appear in the native wild plants, but only, and then often in a somewhat limited degree, to stocks from warmer climates which have become naturalised to northern latitudes. It is instructive, however, to observe in the catalogues issued by the nursery gardeners that among the herbaceous plants scarcely any mention is afforded to the geraniums, other than perhaps a laconic entry such as: "G. subcaulescens, the true plant from the Grecian mountains. The flower stems radiate from tufts of silvery leaves and bear brilliant crimson flowers with a black centre." Mention of the latter colour prompts a passing note, for it is remarked that G. phoeum, the dusky crane's-bill, is unique for the dingy and almost black hue of the blossoms, a proclivity which is also seen in the deep indigo tint of the flowers of G. sylvestrum, and the bluish black sombreness of the aptly named Pelargonium nigrescens, and is particularly evident in the blackish-purple flowers of P. Zonal var. Meteor, which yields easily a dark violet chromo-glucoside known as pelargonin. Doubtless there is some botanically useful function served by such macabre-shaded blossoms, which from an a•sthetic viewpoint one could perhaps associate with the asphodel, and perhaps it is fortunate that such hues are in a minority when compared with the almost universal preponder- ance of the neutral or creamy white and lightly tinted blossoms over all other colours. THE PELARGONIUMS There are several classes of Pelargoniums, namely: (1) the ordinary scarlet-flowered (2) the zonal, or horse-shoe, also known as the bronze, silver, and gold-leaf tricolours of these there are hundreds of varieties, both single and double flowered--some 230 species and hybrids are recorded as being distributed throughout South Africa and about a hundred in New Zealand. Then there are (3) the ivy-leaved varieties which are mostly climbers while group (4) is the one of greatest interest to perfumers as this contains the lemon and rose-scented kinds remarkable for the fragrance of their leaves, and lastly, (5) the fancy, or large-flowered, also known as the "oak-leaved."

THE GERANIUM FAMILY IN PERFUMERY 7 THE GERANIUM OILS It will be noted, when the Labiate family is considered, that the essential oil is usually found throughout the green parts, but in some genera {for example, the Mints and Basils) it is concentrated in the inflorescence just before the flowers open. A similar mobilisation of the essential oil takes place in the Pelargoniums, but with this difference, inasmuch as the essential oil acquires a more flowery character as the 'buds open, by the transformation of the prevailing citral-type odour into a geraniol or rose-like fragrance. Hence the plant is gathered for distillation a little before the opening of the flowers and, although the petals yield no odorous product, in order to waste no time in detaching the flowers they are put into the stills with the leaves. Reference to the literature from 1802 to date provides a considerable amount of information and some conflicting opinions, but to epitomise, it may be stated that the original South African parent plants have provided North-west Africa, Southern Europe and East Africa, and especially Bourbon (Reunion), with plantation stock specially selected from hybrids among P. capitarum, P. odoratissimum, P. roseurn, P. graveolens and so on. Specimens of the above-named, as grown in England, differ in many respects, but collectively, the foliage when fresh yields upon distillation the familiar brownish green geranium oil of commerce, which possesses a characteristic deep, sweet rose-like odour. Furthermore, it becomes very evident upon examination of the analytical data given in the literature regarding the geranium oils, that this reflects the many differences in odour value according to the plant species, soil and climatic conditions prevailing in the locality of the plantations, variations which are immediately obvious upon odour comparisons between authentic samples from different sources. It is therefore expedient to select for consideration here a well-defined type as a standard, for example, Oil Geranium Bourbon. This, incidentally, introduces into these essays • the first mention of probably the most impor- tant and at the same time the 'most widely used of our natural perfume materials, namely, the sweet, rose-smelling oils of geranium, the isolated alcohol, geraniol and its esters. According to Piesse, writing in 1855, several varieties of geraniums bear- ing scent-yielding leaves were introduced into Europe from South Africa as far back as lB00, but it was not until 1847 that P. capitaturn, the purple- flowered, round-headed geranium began to be systematically cultivated in the south of France for the purpose of extracting its scent-yielding principle, known then in commerce as otto of rose-leaf geranium. It would appear that geraniol was first isolated from Palmarosa oil by Jacobsen in 1871 by adopting the unique property of calcium chloride to