Abstract
THE careful reader of Mr. Redgrove's booklet will gather many unusual items of information, such as the natural sources of ambergris, frankincense, opoponax (“a name for perfumers to conjure with”), and civet. He will notice that the civet used in Great Britain comes mainly from Abyssinia, packed in ox-horns; that the odour of Jockey Club is that of the sweet wild flowers wafted over Epsom Downs; that diphenyl oxide develops an odour of geranium leaves only in dilute solution; that labdanum, the nearest approach to ambergris in the plant world, is gathered by shepherds from the fleeces of sheep which browse on the hills of Cyprus and Crete; and that the garden musk (Mimulus moschatus) of the present day has lost its odour, possibly owing to the fragrant plant of our ancestors having been a ‘form’ which has since died out. Within its modest limits this little book amply fulfils the author's purpose of providing the general reader with a popular account of the science and art of perfumery.
Scent and All About It: a Popular Account of the Science and Art of Perfumery.
By H. Stanley Redgrove. Pp. viii + 100. (London: William Heinemann (Medical Books), Ltd., 1928.) 3s. 6d. net.
Article PDF
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
R., J. Chemistry. Nature 123, 372 (1929). https://doi.org/10.1038/123372d0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/123372d0