proportion, the smell of almost any flower, except jasmine.

The odor of some flowers resembles others so nearly that we are almost
induced to believe them to be the same thing, or, at least, if not
evolved from the plant as such, to become so by the action of the
air-oxidation. It is known that some actually are identical in
composition, although produced from totally different plants, such as
camphor, turpentine, rosemary. Hence we may presume that chemistry will
sooner or later produce one from the other, for with many it is merely
an atom of water or an atom of oxygen that causes the difference. It
would be a grand thing to produce otto of roses from oil of rosemary, or
from the rose geranium oil, and theory indicates its possibility.

The essential oil of almonds in a bottle that contains a good deal of
air-oxygen, and but a very little of the oil, spontaneously passes into
another odoriferous body, benzoic acid; which is seen in crystals to
form over the dry parts of the flask. This is a natural illustration of
this idea. In giving the recipe for "sweet pea" as above, we form it
with the impression that its odor resembles the orange-blossom, which
similarity is approached nearer by the addition of the rose and
tuberose.

The vanilla is used merely to give permanence to the scent on the
handkerchief, and this latter body is chosen in preference to extract of
musk or ambergris, which would answer the same purpose of giving
permanence to the more volatile ingredients; because the vanilla
strikes the same key of the olfactory nerve as the orange-blossom, and
thus no new idea of a different scent is brought about as the perfume
dies off from the handkerchief. When perfumes are not mixed upon this
principle, then we hear that such and such a perfume becomes "sickly" or