310 JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY OF COSMETIC CHEMISTS only unskilled labour available, tend to concentrate on a few large-scale crops, such as coffee, pyrethrum, sisal or tobacco, for which much larger markets are available. They have little time for the small-scale experiments which are so necessary in the development of essential oil plants, and frequently only turn to these when other crops are over-produced. Attracted by the high price per pound of floral products, they make a few desultory experiments, meet with difficulties, and abandon the attempt once the market for the staple crops returns to normal. Before condemning them, we should remember that the difficulties are formidable. Not only is there the tropical climate, with its short periods of violent rains, followed by long periods of drought, but the plant meta- bolism may be changed or even fail to survive in the new environment. Many plants yield very different oils when transplanted into a new habitat, and some temperate plants--peppermint is one--will not mature properly in the 12-hour period of daylight fr, und near the equator. Again, distillation is an art unknown to the ordinary farmer and only a few manufacturers of chemical plant know of the essential oil still. These remarks apply with greater force to solvent extraction. Finally, the new producer is faced with a market where prices fluctuate widely, and sometimes violently, and although his product can, to an increasing extent, be assessed scientifically, the final test--that of the perfumer--is subjective and, he suspects, sometimes influenced by the state of the market. The manufacturer is, naturally, unwilling to incorporate an oil with new properties into his formulation without an assured supply, whilst the producer does not care to risk a large expenditure on what appears to him to be a difficult product for a fickle market, and so a vicious circle is formed. In spite of these difficulties, there are many perfumery materials that could be produced in new territories and some, I suspect, may ultimately be produced there for local consumption whether the European manufacturer buys them or not. Before turning in despair to synthetics, both users and growers might try to co-operate once more to produce the natural perfume materials. TI•E L•CTUR•R: I have much sympathy with your remarks, and would like to reassure you that there will always be a very substantial demand for natural products whatever may happen in the field of synthetics. Perfumery seeks diversity above all else, and in some astonishing way natural oils seem to have greater differentiation than one would suppose from a study of the chemical bodies of which they are composed. Of course, where we are considering established oils the difficulties of setting up pro- duction in new territories are immense. The French nation as a whole are much more perfumery conscious than any other and this may account for

SOME ECONOMIC ASPECTS OF PERFUMERY 311 ' their pioneering activities in establishing essential oil production in all parts of the world. I have suggested that a lot of unreported trials must have taken place in the nineteenth century, and it is correspondingly difficult to establish satisfactory alternative sources in the twentieth century. You mention local consumption. This is greatly to be desired since it implies a certain degree of protection to a nascent industry. One has the feeling that production for local consumption in such countries as India and Turkey may one day result in the emergence of important new essential oil industries. It is greatly to be desired that the former British colonies should also foster their local production. Apart from the well known essential oils I foresee a greatly increased consumption of Galbanum, Cascarilla, Khas, etc. DR. Y.-R. NAVES: Should you not emphasise the larger variation in price of raw materials of vegetable origin in particular florals, concretes and absolutes ? These major variations are determined only in part by the hazards of cultivation. T•E LECTURER: I think Dr. Naves has in mind that I ought to have pointed out the advantages which ensue if one can once establish formulae relying, so far as the main part of their cost is concerned, on synthetics. A great part of my own work is devoted to this end. I think it only right to point out, however, that in so far as the major oils are concerned, no precisely identical chemical substitutes exist. One may, of course, get excel- lent results with chemical blends, but these results are never quite the same as with the natural and to that extent one has changed the terms of reference of the problem. DR. Y.-R. NAVES: It is certainly dear that the distribution of production amongst several distinct geographical and political areas is favourable to the consumer. The latter must envisage the conjoint use in his formulae of products obtained from these different geographical and political centres in order to be in a position to counteract the economic consequences of price increases due to local conditions or scarcity of one of these products. In the same way, the consumer must accept the use of suitable substitutes alongside the natural products. T•E LECTURER: I agree with Dr. Naves that it is important to use oils from a number of disconnected sources, and that one should use chemical bases also if possible. The advantages of the price stability resulting from this policy are extremely important. On the other hand, on a cost for cost basis the quality of the end product is seldom improved and not infrequently spoiled to some extent. DR. Y.-R. NAVES: Doubtless it is well to remember that the large