242 JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY OF COSMETIC CHEMISTS DISCUSSION MR. J. PICKTHALL' Dr. Marriott has told us something about the amount of water which may be effectively bound in a substance like gelatin. Could he tell us the amount of bound water •vhich is likely to be found in hair ? THE LECTURER: Proteins, as I have said, are associated with water in three forms, (a) loosely held, (b) loosely bound, and (c) firmly bound. In the case of a gelatin gel, if the gel is held in an atmosphere saturated with water vapour, the loosely held water will be expelled thnough the process of synaeresis. In the case of the loosely bound water, this will be retained by the gel but can be expressed under relatively light pressure. On the other hand, the firmly bound water is very difficult to express. In the case of the hair fibre, there is probably little or no loosely held water though there is some bound water, but the exact amount of firmly bound water is not known with accuracy. Recent experiments in our laboratories have indicated that the firmly bound water is not less than about 16 per cent, but the figure may, perhaps, be a little higher than this. It is unlikely, however, to be quite of the same order of magnitude as that of a collagen fibre. MR. R. L. STEI•HENS, in proposing the vote of thanks to the lecturer, stated that the new hght that had been thrown on the r61e of water in provid- ing the means, of absorption helped him to understand several strange examples of absorption through the skin. He stated that he had come across the absorption of an overdose of atropine from a rubber-based belladonna plaster, where the sweating caused by the plaster had provided the means of absorption.

THE ART OF THE PERFUMER 243 THE ART OF THE PERFUMER W. C. BOTFIELD* A lecture delivered before the Society on 17th _February 1958. A description of the various problems encountered in preparing perfumes for cosmetics is given, together wlth a list of essential offs and synthetics which are known to cause irritation and discoloration in creams and in tofiet soaps. THE TITLE of this talk, "The Art of the Perfumer," is perhaps ambiguous enough to allow us to wander over the various aspects of perfumery, especially that section relating to handkerchief perfumes, cosmetics and beauty aids. Perfumery does, of course, cover a much wider field, but I feel it is sufficient to deal now with the section where the present interest lies. That perfumery is an art is a correct description, but it is an art that must be more closely related to science than the other arts. The perfumer and the chemist must work together and in most projects there must be a close co-operation. A perfume of distinction can only be created if the perfumer has complete freedom of choice of materials and if all other considerations, such as price and sources of materials, are ignored, and this can only be attempted where a really high quality handkerchief perfume is required. The perfumer, before attempting a creation, must have knowledge of the purpose for which the perfume is intended, and the result should be a product which possesses life, warmth and harmony, and although the finished perfume will no doubt possess these qualities it is also essential that it remains stable for a considerable time. Such a perfume of character cannot be produced unless the perfumer has sufficient experience of all raw materials and is very wide in his choice of these materials, and obviously has the ability to blend them together skilfully. The correct inclusion of natural absolutes and essentiM oils, together with a choice of specialities, isolates, derivatives and synthetics, is most important. The perfumes for various purposes, that is, perfumes used in lotions, cosmetics, soap, etc., must differ. It cannot be expected that one perfume compound could be suitable for perfuming a whole range of these products, as they are all different, both chemically and physically. There are liquids, solids, gases and emulsions, which are mixtures of solids and liquids. In preparing compounds, the use of the absolute oils is very necessary, and it is true that present-day costs of these tremendously important products prevent their liberal use. Nevertheless, a perfume is all the better for their inclusion, and even if the price factor allows only 1 per cent I do * W. J. Bush & Co. Ltd., London, E.8.