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The Art of Perfumery - And Methods of Obtaining the Odors of Plants by George William Septimus Piesse
page 41 of 292 (14%)
rectified spirit, as sent out by Bowerbank, of Bishopsgate. After it has
digested for three weeks or a month, at a summer heat, it is fit to draw
from the pomatum, and, if good, has a beautiful green color and rich
flowery smell of the cassie blossom. All extracts made by this
process--_maceration_, or, as it may be called, cold _infusion_, give a
more natural smell of the flowers to the result, than by merely
dissolving the essential oil (procured by distillation) in the spirit;
moreover, where the odor of the flower exists in only very minute
quantities, as in the present instance, and with violet, jasmine, &c.,
it is the only practical mode of proceeding.

In this, and all other similar cases, the pomatum must be cut up into
very small pieces, after the domestic manner of "chopping suet," prior
to its being infused in the alcohol. The action of the mixture is simply
a change of place in the odoriferous matter, which leaves the fat body
by the superior attraction, or affinity, as the chemists say, of the
spirits of wine, in which it freely dissolves.

The major part of the extract can be poured or drawn off the pomatum
without trouble, but it still retains a portion in the interstices,
which requires time to drain away, and this must be assisted by placing
the pomatum in a large funnel, supported by a bottle, in order to
collect the remainder. Finally, all the pomatum, which is now called
_washed pomatum_, is to be put into a tin, which tin must be set into
hot water, for the purpose of melting its contents; when the pomatum
thus becomes liquefied, any extract that is still in it rises to the
surface, and can be skimmed off, or when the pomatum becomes cold it can
be poured from it.

The washed pomatum is preserved for use in the manufacture of dressing
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