510 JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY OF COSMETIC CHEMISTS PERFUMERY• COSMETICS AND SOAP, Vol. 3, 7th Ed., by William A. Poucher. D. Van Nostrand Co., Princeton, N.J. 1960. 260 pages, illustrated. Price $8.50. During an evening spent reading Poucher's latest revision of volume 3, "Being A Treatise on Modern Cosmetics," I felt a mounting dis- may that this particular work ap- pears under such a subtitle. As in most fields where a con- siderable technology has evolved, it is no longer possible for one man to cover all phases of cosmetics ade- quately. At best, all that can be done is to review the pertinent work done by hundreds of chemists in laboratories all over the world. Such a review, moreover, is best done by having different specialists cover each major subdivision. This was done by Sagatin in the encyclo- pedic work, "Cosmetics, Science and Technology" and will be done by deNavarre in his newest re- vision of "The Chemistry and Manu- facture of Cosmetics." Poucher does not approach the formulation of cosmetics as a sep- arate science. Curiously, one al- most has the feeling that he is treating it merely as an adjunct to perfumery. He presents only stock formulas, too often completely un- changed from the 1926 edition al- ready on my bookshelf. They are often of the simplest type and seem to be presented primarily as a basis for discussing the proper types of perfume ingredients to be used in each particular medium. In this sense, the work has some merit and its lack of modern formu- lation details can be justified some- what. It is a guide to perfumers rather than to cosmetic chemists. It gives a broad view of the industry, a historical background to which more current formulas can be com- pared and from which their per- fuming can be derived. Nevertheless,•even from this point of view there are gaps which are too large to be glossed over, viz: no where in the book is there any mention of aerosol products. Mod- ern antiseptics are ignored except for two formulas containing hex- achlorophene. Soap formulas pre- dominate-whether for emulsions, shampoos or dentifrices--with little recognition of the now common use of other surfactants Ignored is the fact that many natural products such as the unsaturated oils are now available in highly purified stable form with very low odor levels. The new generation of cosmetic chemists and perfumers owes a con- siderable debt to such men as Wil- liam A. Poucher. Lest my crit- icisms seem too unkind, I must add one more thought before closing. Many of the base formulations he presents have not greatly changed in the past few decades--such as powders, colognes and certain bath preparations and hair oils. Many others, although archaic, are still in use merely because they sell. Poucher's book will be found quite useful in these areas as well as for its valuable advice concerning the perfuming of the products.--R. L. GOLDEMBERO, Shulton, Inc. THE ESSESCE OF BE^iSm'V, bv Aytoun Ellis. Martin Secker & Warburg Ltd., London, The Mac- millan Co., New York. 1960. 200 pages, illustrated. Price $5.00. The main title of this book leaves it open what type beauty is meant. The subtitle on the j acket--A History of Scent--is apt to arouse the cosmetic chemist's or perfumer's curiosity. On opening the book, a further subtitle becomes visible "A History of Perfume and Cos- metics." The Table of Contents shows the word "perfume" (or "perfumed") in the headings of 14

JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY OF COSMETIC CHEMISTS 511 of the 16 chapters. Ten of them have historical-geographical mean- ings going back to antiquity, the remaining six chapter headings read like a pot-pourri extracted from all existing publications on perfumery and its application: Chapter XI, "The Lure of Perfumes and Odours" (12 pages). XII, "The Production of Natural Perfumes" (11 pages). XIII, "The Classification of Odours and the Use of Synthetics" (12 pages). XIV, "Perfumed Toilet Waters" (13 pages). XV, "An ABC of Perfume" (19 pages). XVI, "The Choice of Perfume and the Art of Make-Up" (13 pages). The first ten chapters make in- teresting reading, particularly for the scholar who is anxious to delve into ancient history. They tell the story of how women and men have attempted throughout the ages to "beautify" themselves by the use of odoriferous substances (wrongly called "Perfumes"), further by ap- plication of anything that could be spread on the skin, or into which the hunnan body could be immersed. Some twenty excellent reproduc- tions of antique woodcuts and re- liefs, showing vases, perfumed gloves, tapestries, pots, vessels, perfume jugs, scent bottles, man- uscripts, medieval perfume shops, ancient distilleries and perfumers' laboratories, augment the reader's historical enlightenment in the field of "beauty," perfumes, cosmetics and all that goes with them. Some of this has become known by books previously published, particularly by the historical part of Poucher's volumes and C. J. S. Thompson's "Mystery and Lure of Perfume." Some hundred or more poetic cita- tions dealing with perfumes and beautifying agents are spread over the entire b6ok and reveal a great deal of search of the literature of many nations, done by the author, a former British schoolmaster, lec- turer, journalist, book author and public relations man Why the author felt that he had to add a f•w "technical" chapters to this beautiful historical survey remains a mystery. Much of the information contained in these chap- ters is extracted (and poorly copied) from Poucher's books. Misleading information could certainly have been avoided, such as the constant use of the term "perfume" for what is known as an essential oil, the use of "alcohol solvent--the Am- bergris Extract" (page 26) for what is known as "Tincture Ambergris," or sentences such as "From Geraniol is obtained the perfume of rose- geranium," or "even the odor of musk can be artificially reproduced" ("approximated" would certainly be more accurate). Or, "The wood of Bols de Rose trees is the source of the finest Linaloe Oil ("Linalool" is meant). Under the heading "An A, B, C, of Perfume" (Chapter XV) the author states that a thou- sand or more materials are used in modern perfumery but that the chapter must be restricted to "some of the more important of them." The mix-up of information given therein certainly is complete, as you see such materials mentioned as Avocado oil (for protecting the skin), Quince, Rice Starch, Traga- canth, Talc, Tea, Tobacco or Asa- fetida gum, in the company of Champaca, Jasmin, Jockey Club, Lotus, Coumarin, Exaltolide, San- dalwood, Patchouli and Bergamot (but no Lavender Oil), among many others. The very strikingly designed colored jacket of this book bears a note which reads "Whether you are the Perfume Buyer of a Depart- ment Store, a Historian in search of Information, or merely looking for entertainment, ESSENCE OF BEAUTY cannot fail to be of ab- sorbing interest. To which I would