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The perfume caters to our smell
- olfactory sense. Our five senses are - touch, hearing, seeing,
tasting and smelling. Corresponding to these are the five sense
organs - the skin, the ears, the eyes, the tongue and the nostrils.
Over and above these gross physical senses is another - the sixth
sense that is something intangible which, leads to a feeling
of wellbeing upon inhaling a delicate perfume.
In animals smell is very strong. The predators
mark their territory with urine, which by the way each one has
a distinctive odour. The pet in the house knows about our individual
perfume more than we know ourselves. Perfumes have two functions,
negative and positive. It covers up stale smell of sweat and
on the other hand it exudes intoxicating fragrance.
Perfume is from Latin `per fume` meaning `through
smoke`. It goes back 4000 years to Mesopotamia and Egypt before
being improved upon by Romans and Arabs. In Europe it came in
the 14th century. Hungary produced the first modern perfume in
1371. Renaissance Italy saw a burst of activity in perfume making.
France became the centre of perfumes made from aromatic plants
being grown from the 18th century in Grasse. |
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Man wants to pocket everything
- from the diamond in dark caverns to pearls in ocean depths.
The perfume is the victory of man over Nature - capturing the
cream of her scent spread all around. The perfume is a mixture
of oils, aroma and fixatives blended with solvents. The industry
is shrouded in secrecy. Not everybody can understand the language
of perfume making. Each perfume belongs to a family.
Perfume making starts with dilution of the oil
with a solvent. Ethanol mixed with water is the most common solvent.
Others are coconut oil, wax and jojoba. The increase or decrease
of aromatic compounds relates to scent`s intensity and longevity.
The amount of oil used varies from one perfume family to another.
From 1900 perfumes were categorized
in groups - single floral, floral bouquet, ambery (admixture
of scents from animals, flowers and woods), woody (mainly sandalwood
and cedar), leather (honey, tobacco, wood and wood tars), chypre
(cyprus) and fougere (fern).
Since
1945 perfumes have been divided into bright floral, green, oceanic,
citrus and gourmand. From 1983 the fragrance-wheel is being used
to simplify classification - floral, oriental, woody, fougere
and fresh. Each are divided into subgroups.
Perfumes are metaphorically said to contain three
musical notes - top, middle and base. Top notes are the scents
that are immediately perceptible. Middle notes emerge after the
first effect dissipates. The base note persists in combination
with the middle after the top goes. Perfumes can be dissipated
due to exposure to heat, light, oxygen etc.
The sources from which perfume is drawn are plants,
animals and synthetic bases. Plants are the largest sources -
its bark, fruits, flowers, leaves, twigs, roots, seeds and bulbs.
In the animal world perfumes are extracted from whales, beavers,
civets, honeybee and musk deer. Synthetic perfumes are cheaper
but not quite so fine and delicate. In the case of the latter
there are health risks connected to rashes, asthma and even cancer.
Perfume is extracted by soaking
the raw material in a solvent for any length of time from few
hours to months. In distillation the process of condensation
is used, while in destructive-distillation method the raw stuff
is heated directly. Squeezing and pressing are also common methods.
Another method is absorbing the aroma in wax. Perfumes are part
of industry and used for the food and chemical business.
The person who makes perfumes
is known affectionately as The Nose. Next time you go to buy
a bottle of perfume give a thought to the efforts that go behind
creating that exquisite bottle for you! |
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