Part 10

There are, it is true, certain kinds of fumigation adopted occasionally where these products are the materials sought. By such fumigation, as when brown paper is allowed to smoulder (undergo slow combustion) in a room for the purpose of covering bad smells. By the quick combustion of tobacco, that is, combustion with flame, there is no odor developed, but by its slow combustion, according to the method adopted by those who indulge in "the weed," the familiar aroma, "the cloud," is generated, and did not exist ready formed in the tobacco. Now a well-made pastil should not develope any odor of its own, but simply volatilize that fragrant matter, whatever it be, used in its manufacture. We think that the fourth formula given above carries out that object.

It does not follow that the formulæ that are here given produce at all times the odor that is most approved; it is evident that in pastils, as with other perfumes, a great deal depends upon taste. Many persons very much object to the aroma of benzoin, while they greatly admire the fumes of cascarilla.

THE PERFUME LAMP.

Shortly after the discovery of the peculiar property of spongy platinum remaining incandescent in the vapor of alcohol, the late Mr. I. Deck, of Cambridge, made a very ingenious application of it for the purpose of perfuming apartments. An ordinary spirit lamp is filled with Eau de Cologne, and "trimmed" with a wick in the usual manner. Over the centre of the wick, and standing about the eighth of an inch above it, a small ball of spongy platinum is placed, maintained in its position by being fixed to a thin glass rod, which is inserted into the wick.

Thus arranged, the lamp is to be lighted and allowed to burn until the platinum becomes red hot; the flame may then be blown out, nevertheless the platinum remains incandescent for an indefinite period. The proximity of a red-hot ball to a material of the physical quality of Eau de Cologne, diffused over a surface of cotton wick, as a matter of course causes its rapid evaporation, and as a consequence the diffusion of odor.

Instead of the lamp being charged with Eau de Cologne, we may use Eau de Portugal, vervaine, or any other spirituous essence. Several perfumers make a particular mixture for this purpose, which is called

EAU A BRULER.

Eau de Cologne, 1 pint. Tincture of benzoin, 2 oz. " vanilla, 1 oz. Otto of thyme, } " mint, } of each, 1/2 drachm. " nutmeg, }

Another form, called

EAU POUR BRULER.

Rectified spirit, 1 pint. Benzoic acid, 1/2 oz. Otto of thyme, } of each, 1 drachm. " caraway, } " bergamot, 2 oz.

Persons who are in the habit of using the perfume lamps will, however frequently observe that, whatever difference there may be in the composition of the fluid introduced into the lamp, there is a degree of similarity in the odor of the result when the platinum is in action. This arises from the fact, that so long as there is the vapor of alcohol, mixed with oxygen-air, passing over red-hot platinum, certain definite products always result, namely, acetic acid, aldehyde, and acetal, which are formed more or less and impart a peculiar and rather agreeable fragrance to the vapor, but which overpowers any other odor that is present.

FUMIGATING PAPER.

There are two modes of preparing this article:--

1. Take sheets of light cartridge paper, and dip them into a solution of alum--say, alum, one ounce; water, one pint. After they are thoroughly moistened, let them be well dried; upon one side of this paper spread a mixture of equal parts of gum benzoin, olibanum, and either balm of Tolu or Peruvian balsam, or the benzoin may be used alone. To spread the gum, &c., it is necessary that they be melted in an earthenware vessel and poured thinly over the paper, finally smoothing the surface with a hot spatula. When required for use, slips of this paper are held over a candle or lamp, in order to evaporate the odorous matter, but not to ignite it. The alum in the paper prevents it a to certain extent from burning.

2. Sheets of good light paper are to be steeped in a solution of saltpetre, in the proportions of two ounces of the salt to one pint of water, to be afterwards thoroughly dried.

Any of the odoriferous gums, as myrrh, olibanum, benzoin, &c., are to be dissolved to saturation in rectified spirit, and with a brush spread upon one side of the paper, which, being hung up, rapidly dries.

Slips of this paper are to be rolled up as spills, to be ignited, and then to be blown out.

The nitre in the paper causes a continuance of slow combustion, diffusing during that time the agreeable perfume of the odoriferous gums. If two of these sheets of paper be pressed together before the surface is dry, they will join and become as one. When cut into slips, they form what are called Odoriferous Lighters, or Perfumed Spills.

SECTION VIII.

PERFUMED SOAP.

The word soap, or sope, from the Greek _sapo_, first occurs in the works of Pliny and Galen. Pliny informs us that soap was first discovered by the Gauls, that it was composed of tallow and ashes, and that the German soap was reckoned the best. According to Sismondi, the French historian, a soapmaker was included in the retinue of Charlemagne.

At Pompeii (overwhelmed by an eruption of Vesuvius A.D. 79), a soap-boiler's shop with soap in it was discovered during some excavations made there not many years ago. (_Starke's Letters from Italy._)

From these statements it is evident that the manufacture of soap is of very ancient origin; indeed, Jeremiah figuratively mentions it--"For though thou wash thee with natron, and take thee much soap, yet thine iniquity is marked before me." (Jer. 2:22.)

Mr. Wilson says that the earliest record of the soap trade in England is to be found in a pamphlet in the British Museum, printed in 1641, entitled "A short Account of the Soap Business." It speaks more particularly about the duty, which was then levied for the first time, and concerning certain patents which were granted to persons, chiefly Popish recusants, for some pretended new invention of white soap, "which in truth was not so." Sufficient is said here to prove that at that time soap-making was no inconsiderable art.

It would be out of place here to enter into the details of soap-making, because perfumers do not manufacture that substance, but are merely "remelters," to use a trade term. The dyer purchases his dye-stuffs from the drysalters already fabricated, and these are merely modified under his hands to the various purposes he requires; so with the perfumer, he purchases the various soaps in their raw state from the soap-makers, these he mixes by remelting, scents and colors according to the article to be produced.

The primary soaps are divided into hard and soft soaps: the hard soaps contain soda as the base; those which are soft are prepared with potash. These are again divisible into varieties, according to the fatty matter employed in their manufacture, also according to the proportion of alkali. The most important of these to the perfumer is what is termed curd soap, as it forms the basis of all the highly-scented soaps.

CURD SOAP is a nearly neutral soap, of pure soda and fine tallow.

OIL SOAP, as made in England, is an uncolored combination of olive oil and soda, hard, close grain, and contains but little water in combination.

CASTILE SOAP, as imported from Spain, is a similar combination, but is colored by protosulphate of iron. The solution of the salt being added to the soap after it is manufactured, from the presence of alkali, decomposition of the salt takes place, and protoxide of iron is diffused through the soap of its well-known black color, giving the familiar marbled appearance to it. When the soap is cut up into bars, and exposed to the air, the protoxide passes by absorption of oxygen into peroxide; hence, a section of a bar of Castile soap shows the outer edge red-marbled, while the interior is black-marbled. Some Castile soap is not artificially colored, but a similar appearance is produced by the use of a barilla or soda containing sulphuret of the alkaline base, and at other times from the presence of an iron salt.

MARINE SOAP is a cocoanut-oil soap, of soda containing a great excess of alkali, and much water combination.

YELLOW SOAP is a soda soap, of tallow, resin, of lard, &c. &c.

PALM SOAP is a soda soap of palm oil, retaining the peculiar odor and color of the oil unchanged. The odoriferous principle of palm oil resembling that from orris-root, can be dissolved out of it by tincturation with alcohol; like ottos generally, it remains intact in the presence of an alkali, hence, soap made of palm oil retains the odor of the oil.

The public require a soap that will not shrink and change shape after they purchase it. It must make a profuse lather during the act of washing. It must not leave the skin rough after using it. It must be either quite inodorous or have a pleasant aroma. None of the above soaps possess all these qualities in union, and, therefore, to produce such an article is the object of the perfumer in his remelting process.

Prior to the removal of the excise duty upon soap, in 1853, it was a commercial impossibility for a perfumer to _manufacture_ soap, because the law did not allow less than one ton of soap to be made at a time. This law, which, with certain modifications had been in force since the reign of Charles I, confined the actual manufacture of that article to the hands of a few capitalists. Such law, however, was but of little importance to the perfumer, as a soap-boiling plant and apparatus is not very compatible with a laboratory of flowers; yet, in some exceptional instances, these excise regulations interfered with him; such, for instance, as that in making soft soap of lard and potash, known, when perfumed, as _Crême d'Amande_; or unscented, as a Saponaceous Cream, which has, in consequence of that law, been entirely thrown into the hands of our continental neighbors.

FIG SOFT SOAP is a combination of oils, principally olive oil of the commonest kind, with potash.

NAPLES SOFT SOAP is a fish oil (mixed with Lucca oil) and potash, colored brown for the London shavers, retaining, when pure, its unsophisticated "fishy" odor.

The above soaps constitute the real body or base of all the fancy scented soaps as made by the perfumers, which are mixed and remelted according to the following formula:--

The remelting process is exceedingly simple. The bar soap is first cut up into thin slabs, by pressing them against a wire fixed upon the working bench. This cutting wire (piano wire is the kind) is made taut upon the bench, by being attached to two screws. These screws regulate the height of the wire from the bench, and hence the thickness of the slabs from the bars. The soap is cut up into thin slabs, because it would be next to impossible to melt a bar whole, on account of soap being one of the worst conductors of heat.

The melting pan is an iron vessel, of various sizes, capable of holding from 28 lbs. to 3 cwt., heated by a steam jacket, or by a water-bath. The soap is put into the pan by degrees, or what is in the vernacular called "rounds," that is, the thin slabs are placed perpendicularly all round the side of the pan; a few ounces of water are at the same time introduced, the steam of which assists the melting. The pan being covered up, in about half an hour the soap will have "run down." Another round is then introduced, and so continued every half hour until the whole "melting" is finished. The more water a soap contains, the easier is it melted; hence a round of marine soap, or of new yellow soap, will run down in half the time that it requires for old soap.

When different soaps are being remelted to form one kind when finished, the various sorts are to be inserted into the pan in alternate rounds, but each round must consist only of one kind, to insure uniformity of condition. As the soap melts, in order to mix it, and to break up lumps, &c., it is from time to time "_crutched_." The "crutch" is an instrument or tool for stirring up the soap; its name is indicative of its form, a long handle with a short cross--an inverted 'T', curved to fit the curve of the pan. When the soaps are all melted, it is then colored, if so required, and then the perfume is added, the whole being thoroughly incorporated with the crutch.

The soap is then turned into the "frame." The frame is a box made in sections, in order that it can be taken to pieces, so that the soap can be cut up when cold; the sections or "lifts" are frequently made of the width of the intended bar of soap.

Two or three days after the soap has been in the frame, it is cool enough to cut into slabs of the size of the lifts or sections of the frame; these slabs are set up edgeways to cool for a day or two more; it is then barred by means of a wire. The lifts of the frame regulate the widths of the bars; the gauge regulates their breadth. The density of the soap being pretty well known, the gauges are made so that the soap-cutter can cut up the bars either into fours, sixes, or eights; that is, either into squares of four, six, or eight to the pound weight. Latterly, various mechanical arrangements have been introduced for soap-cutting, which in very large establishments, such as those at Marseilles in France, are great economisers of labor; but in England the "wire" is still used.

For making tablet shapes the soap is first cut into squares, and is then put into a mould, and finally under a press--a modification of an ordinary die or coin press. Balls are cut by hand, with the aid of a little tool called a "scoop," made of brass or ivory, being, in fact, a ring-shaped knife. Balls are also made in the press with a mould of appropriate form. The grotesque form and fruit shape are also obtained by the press and appropriate moulds. The fruit-shaped soaps, after leaving the mould, are dipped into melted wax, and are then colored according to artificial fruit-makers' rules.

The "variegated" colored soaps are produced by adding the various colors, such as smalt and vermilion, previously mixed with water, to the soap in a melted state; these colors are but slightly crutched in, hence the streaky appearance or party color of the soap; this kind is also termed "marbled" soap.

ALMOND SOAP.

This soap, by some persons "supposed" to be made of "sweet almond oil," and by others to be a mystic combination of sweet and bitter almonds, is in reality constituted thus:--

Finest curd soap, 1 cwt. " oil soap, 14 lbs. " marine, 14 lbs. Otto of almonds, 1-1/2 lb. " cloves, 1/4 lb. " caraway, 1/2 lb.

By the time that half the curd soap is melted, the marine soap is to be added; when this is well crutched, then add the oil soap, and finish with the remaining curd. When the whole is well melted, and just before turning it into the frame, crutch in the mixed perfume.

Some of the soap "houses" endeavored to use Mirabane or artificial essence of almonds (see ALMOND) for perfuming soap, it being far cheaper than the true otto of almonds; but the application has proved so unsatisfactory in practice, that it has been abandoned by Messrs. Gibbs, Pineau (of Paris), Gosnell, and others who used it.

CAMPHOR SOAP.

Curd soap, 28 lbs. Otto of rosemary, 1-1/4 lb. Camphor, 1-1/4 lb.

Reduce the camphor to powder by rubbing it in a mortar with the addition of an ounce or more of almond oil, then sift it. When the soap is melted and ready to turn out, add the camphor and rosemary, using the crutch for mixing.

HONEY SOAP.

Best yellow soap, 1 cwt. Fig soft soap, 14 lbs. Otto of citronella, 1-1/2 lb.

WHITE WINDSOR SOAP.

Curd soap, 1 cwt. Marine soap, 21 lbs. Oil soap, 14 lbs. Otto of caraway, 1-1/2 lbs. " thyme, } " rosemary, } of each 1/2 lb. " cassia,} " cloves,} of each 1/4 lb.

BROWN WINDSOR SOAP.

Curd soap, 3/4 cwt. Marine soap, 1/4 " Yellow soap, 1/4 " Oil soap, 1/4 " Brown coloring (caramel), 1/2 pint. Otto of caraway, } " cloves, } " thyme, } each, 1/2 lb. " cassia, } " petit grain, } " French lavender, }

SAND SOAP.

Curd soap, 7 lbs. Marine soap, 7 lbs. Sifted silver sand, 28 lbs. Otto of thyme, } " cassia, } " caraway, } each, 2 oz. " French lavender, }

FULLER'S EARTH SOAP.

Curd soap, 10-1/2 lbs. Marine soap, 3-1/2 lbs. Fuller's earth (baked), 14 lbs. Otto of French lavender, 2 oz. " origanum, 1 oz.

The above forms are indicative of the method adopted for perfuming soaps while hot or melted.

All the very highly scented soaps are, however, perfumed cold, in order to avoid the loss of scent, 20 per cent. of perfume being evaporated by the hot process.

The variously named soaps, from the sublime "Sultana" to the ridiculous "Turtle's Marrow," we cannot of course be expected to notice; the reader may, however, rest assured that he has lost nothing by their omission.

The receipts given produce only the finest quality of the article named. Where cheap soaps are required, not much acumen is necessary to discern that by omitting the expensive perfumes, or lessening the quantity, the object desired is attained. Still lower qualities of scented soap are made by using greater proportions of yellow soap, and employing a very common curd, omitting the oil soap altogether.

SCENTING SOAPS HOT.

In the previous remarks, the methods explained of scenting soap involved the necessity of melting it. The high temperature of the soap under these circumstances involves the obvious loss of a great deal of perfume by evaporation. With very highly scented soaps, and with perfume of an expensive character, the loss of ottos is too great to be borne in a commercial sense; hence the adoption of the plan of

SCENTING SOAPS COLD.

This method is exceedingly convenient and economical for scenting small batches, involving merely mechanical labor, the tools required being simply an ordinary carpenter's plane, and a good marble mortar, and lignum vitæ pestle.

The woodwork of the plane must be fashioned at each end, so that when placed over the mortar it remains firm and not easily moved by the parallel pressure of the soap against its projecting blade.

To commence operations, we take first 7 lbs., 14 lbs., or 21 lbs. of the bars of the soap that it is intended to perfume. The plane is now laid upside down across the top of the mortar.

Things being thus arranged, the whole of the soap is to be pushed across the plane until it is all reduced into fine shavings. Like the French "Charbonnier," who does not saw the wood, but woods the saw, so it will be perceived that in this process we do not plane the soap, but that we soap the plane, the shavings of which fall lightly into the mortar as quickly as produced.

Soap, as generally received from the maker, is the proper condition for thus working; but if it has been in stock any time it becomes too hard, and must have from one to three ounces of distilled water sprinkled in the shaving for every pound of soap employed, and must lay for at least twenty-four hours to be absorbed before the perfume is added.

When it is determined what size the cakes of soap are to be, what they are to sell for, and what it is intended they should cost, then the maker can measure out his perfume.

In a general way, soaps scented in this way retail from 4_s._ to 10_s._ per pound, bearing about 100 per cent. profit, which is not too much considering their limited sale. The soap being in a proper physical condition with regard to moisture, &c., is now to have the perfume well stirred into it. The pestle is then set to work for the process of incorporation. After a couple of hours of "warm exercise," the soap is generally expected to be free from streaks, and to be of one uniform consistency.

For perfuming soap in large portions by the cold process, instead of using the pestle and mortar as an incorporator, it is more convenient and economical to employ a mill similar in construction to a cake chocolate-mill, or a flake cocoa-mill; any mechanical apparatus that answers for mixing paste and crushing lumps will serve pretty well for blending soap together.

Before going into the mill, the soap is to be reduced to shavings, and have the scent and color stirred in; after leaving it, the flakes or ribands of soap are to be finally bound together by the pestle and mortar into one solid mass; it is then weighed out in quantities for the tablets required, and moulded by the hand into egg-shaped masses; each piece being left in this condition, separately laid in rows on a sheet of white paper, dries sufficiently in a day or so to be fit for the press, which is the same as that previously mentioned. It is usual, before placing the cakes of soap in the press, to dust them over with a little starch-powder, or else to very slightly oil the mould; either of these plans prevents the soap from adhering to the letters or embossed work of the mould--a condition essential for turning out a clean well-struck tablet.

The body of all the fine soaps mentioned below should consist of the finest and whitest curd soap, or of a soap previously melted and colored to the required shade, thus:--

ROSE-COLORED SOAP is curd soap stained with vermilion, ground in water, thoroughly incorporated when the soap is melted, and not very hot.

GREEN SOAP is a mixture of palm oil soap and curd soap, to which is added powdered smalt ground with water.

BLUE SOAP, curd soap colored with smalt.

BROWN SOAP, curd soap with caramel, _i.e._ burnt sugar.

The intensity of color varies, of course, with the quantity of coloring.

Some kinds of soap become colored or tinted to a sufficient extent by the mere addition of the ottos used for scenting, such as "spermaceti soap," "lemon soap," &c., which become of a beautiful pale lemon color by the mere mixing of the perfume with the curd soap.

OTTO OF ROSE SOAP.

(_To retail at 10s. per pound_.)

Curd soap (previously colored with vermilion), 4-1/2 lbs. Otto of rose, 1 oz. Spirituous extract of musk, 2 oz. Otto of santal, 1/4 oz. " geranium, 1/4 oz.

Mix the perfumes, stir them in the soap shavings, and beat together.

TONQUIN MUSK SOAP.

Pale brown-colored curd soap, 5 lbs. Grain musk, 1/4 oz. Otto of bergamot, 1 oz.

Rub the musk with the bergamot, then add it to the soap, and beat up.

ORANGE-FLOWER SOAP.

Curd soap, 7 lbs. Otto of neroli, 3-1/2 oz.

SANTAL-WOOD SOAP.

Curd soap, 7 lbs. Otto of santal, 7 oz. " bergamot, 2 oz.

SPERMACETI SOAP.