on of labor to British enterprise, I am no less sanguine
of the final result in other hands.

Mr. Kemble, of Jamaica, has recently sent to England some fine samples
of Oil of Behn. The Moringa, from which it is produced, has been
successfully cultivated by him. The Oil of Behn, being a perfectly
inodorous fat oil, is a valuable agent for extracting the odors of
flowers by the maceration process.

At no distant period I hope to see, either at the Crystal Palace,
Sydenham, at the Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew, or elsewhere, a place to
illustrate the commercial use of flowers--eye-lectures on the methods of
obtaining the odors of plants and their various uses. The
horticulturists of England, being generally unacquainted with the
methods of economizing the scents from the flowers they cultivate,
entirely lose what would be a very profitable source of income. For many
ages copper ore was thrown over the cliffs into the sea by the Cornish
miners working the tin streams; how much wealth was thus cast away by
ignorance we know not, but there is a perfect parallel between the old
miners and the modern gardeners.

Many readers of the "Gardeners' Chronicle" and of the "Annals of
Pharmacy and Chemistry" will recognize in the following pages much
matter that has already passed under their eyes.

To be of the service intended, such matter must however have a book
form; I have therefore collected from the above-mentioned periodicals
all that I considered might be useful to the reader.

To Sir Wm. Hooker, Dr. Lindley, Mr. W. Dickinson, and Mr. W. Bastick, I
respectfully tender my thanks for the assistance they have so freely
given whenever I have had occasion to seek their advice.

Contents.

PREFACE

SECTION I.

INTRODUCTION AND HISTORY.

Perfumes in use from the Earliest Periods--Origin lost in the Depth of
its Antiquity--Possibly derived from Religious Observances--Incense or
Frankincense burned in Honor of the Divinities--Early Christians put to
Death for refusing to offer Incense to Idols--Use of perfumes by the
Greeks and Romans--Pliny and Seneca observe that some of the luxurious
People scent themselves Three Times a Day--Use of Incense in the Romish
Church--Scriptural Authority for the use of Perfume--Composition of the
Holy Perfume--The Prophet's Simile--St. Ephraem's Will--Fragrant
Tapers--Constantine provides fragrant Oil to burn at the
Altars--Frangipanni--Trade in the East in Perfume Drugs--The Art of