for them. Nor do they deteriorate so quickly in French spirit as in
English. Whether this be due to the oil of wine (oeanthic ether) or
not we cannot say, but think it is so.

VIOLET.--

"The forward violet thus did I chide:
Sweet thief, whence didst thou steal thy sweet that smells,
If not from my love's breath?"

The perfume exhaled by the _Viola odorata_ is so universally admired,
that to speak in its favor would be more than superfluous. The demand
for the "essence of violets" is far greater than the manufacturing
perfumers are at present able to supply, and as a consequence, it is
difficult to procure the genuine article through the ordinary sources of
trade.

Real violet is, however, sold by many of the retail perfumers of the
West End of London, but at a price that prohibits its use except by the
affluent or extravagant votaries of fashion. The violet farms from
whence the flowers are procured to make this perfume are very extensive
at Nice and Grasse, also in the neighborhood of Florence. The true
smelling principle or otto of violets has never yet been isolated: a
very concentrated solution in alcohol impresses the olfactory nerve with
the idea of the presence of hydrocyanic acid, which is probably a true
impression. Burnett says that the plant _Viola tricolor_ (heart's ease),
when bruised, smells like peach kernels, and doubtless, therefore,
contains prussic acid.

The flowers of the heart's ease are scentless, but the plant evidently