leaves, in mint, patchouly, and thyme; the flower, in the
roses and violets; the seeds in the Tonquin bean and caraway; the bark,
in cinnamon, &c.

Some plants yield more than one odor, which are quite distinct and
characteristic. The orange tree, for instance, gives three--from the
leaves one called _petit grain_; from the flowers we procure _neroli_;
and from the rind of the fruit, essential oil of orange, _essence of
Portugal_. On this account, perhaps, this tree is the most valuable of
all to the operative perfumer.

The fragrance or odor of plants is owing, in nearly all cases, to a
perfectly volatile oil, either contained in small vessels, or sacs
within them, or generated from time to time, during their life, as when
in blossom. Some few exude, by incision, odoriferous gums, as benzoin,
olibanum, myrrh, &c.; others give, by the same act, what are called
balsams, which appear to be mixtures of an odorous oil and an inodorous
gum. Some of these balsams are procured in the country to which the
plant is indigenous by boiling it in water for a time, straining, and
then boiling again, or evaporating it down till it assumes the
consistency of treacle. In this latter way is balsam of Peru procured
from the _Myroxylon peruiferum_, and the balsam of Tolu from the
_Myroxylon toluiferum_. Though their odors are agreeable, they are not
much applied in perfumery for handkerchief use, but by some they are
mixed with soap, and in England they are valued more for their medicinal
properties than for their fragrance.

SECTION II.

"Were not summer's distillations left
A liquid prisoner, pent in walls of glass,
Beauty's effect with beauty were bereft,
Nor it, nor no remembrance what it was;
But flowers distilled, though they with winter meet,
Leese but their show, their substance still lives sweet."

SHAKSPEARE.

The extensive flower farms in the neighborhood of Nice, Grasse,
Montpellier, and Cannes, in France, at Adrianople (Turkey in Asia), at
Broussa and Uslak (Turkey in Asia), and at Mitcham, in England, in a
measure indicate the commercial importance of that branch of chemistry
called perfumery.

British India and Europe consume annually, at the very lowest estimate,
150,000 gallons of perfumed spirits, under various titles, such as eau
de Cologne, essence of lavender, esprit de rose, &c. The art of
perfumery does not, however, confine itself to the production of scents
for the