The cheap perfumer goes about it in the same way. He analyzes, for
instance, the otto or oil of roses which cost during the war $400 a
pound--if you could get it at any price--and he finds that the chief
ingredient is geraniol, costing only $5, and next is citronelol, costing
$20; then comes nerol and others. So he makes up a cheap brand of
perfumery out of three or four such compounds. But the genuine oil of
roses, like other natural essences, contains a dozen or more
constituents and to leave many of them out is like reducing an orchestra
to a few loud-sounding instruments or a painting to a three-color print.
A few years ago an attempt was made to make music electrically by
producing separately each kind of sound vibration contained in the
instruments imitated. Theoretically that seems easy, but practically the
tone was not satisfactory because the tones and overtones of a full
orchestra or even of a single violin are too numerous and complex to be
reproduced individually. So the synthetic perfumes have not driven out
the natural perfumes, but, on the contrary, have aided and stimulated
the growth of flowers for essences. The otto or attar of roses, favorite
of the Persian monarchs and romances, has in recent years come chiefly
from Bulgaria. But wars are not made with rosewater and the Bulgars for
the last five years have been engaged in other business than cultivating
their own gardens. The alembic or still was invented by the Arabian
alchemists for the purpose of obtaining the essential oil or attar of
roses. But distillation, even with the aid of steam, is not altogether
satisfactory. For instance, the distilled rose oil contains anywhere
from 10 to 74 per cent. of a paraffin wax (stearopten) that is odorless
and, on the other hand, phenyl-ethyl alcohol, which is an important
constituent of the scent of roses, is broken up in the process of
distillation. So the perfumer can improve on the natural or rather the
distilled oil by leaving out part of the paraffin and adding the missing
alcohol. Even the imported article taken direct from the still is not