Bergamot

“ Bergamot.—This most useful perfume is procured from the Citrus Bergamia, by expression from the peel of the fruit. It has a soft sweet odor, too well known to need description here. When new and good it has a greenish-yellow tint, but loses its greenness by age, especially if kept in imperfectly corked bottles. It then becomes cloudy from the deposit of resinous matter, produced by the contact of the air, and acquires a turpentine smell.
It is best preserved in well-stoppered bottles, kept in a cool cellar, and in the dark; light, especially the direct sunshine, quickly deteriorates its odor. ”

“ If the capricious blossom shows a decided preference for any shade, it is for magenta, the royal purple of the ancients, scarcely tolerated now except by Hoboken Dutch and the belles of the kitchen, whose Sunday hats are resplendent with intense effects.
Only a few bergamot flowers open at a time; the rest of the slightly rounded head, thickly set with hairy calices, looks as if it might be placed in a glass cup and make an excellent pen wiper. If the cultivated human eye (and stomach) revolt at magenta, It is ever a favorite shade with butterflies. They flutter in ecstasy over the gay flowers ”

“ The following herbs are those which are chiefly valued for their perfume or for their historical associations.
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BERGAMOT
Bergamot (Monarda fistulosa) .
It is extraordinary how little comment has been made on the handsome red flowers and fragrant leaves of Red Bergamot, or Bee-Balm—a name which Robinson gives it. Growing in masses, it makes a lovely bit of colour, and a very sweet border. Bergamot was a favourite flower in the posies that country people used to take to church, as Mrs Ewing observes in her story “Daddy Darwin’s Dove Cot.” ”

“ Production—The bergamot is cultivated at Reggio, on low ground near the sea, and in the adjacent villages. The trees are often intermixed with lemon and orange trees, and the soil is well irrigated and cropped with vegetables.
The essential oil (Oleum Bergamottæ) is obtained from the full-grown but still unripe and more or less green fruits, gathered in the months of November and December. They are richer in oil than any one of the allied fruits. ”

“ Some flowers we like at first sight, but they do not wear well. This is a hard truth; and I shall not shame the garden-creatures who have done their best to please by betraying them to the world, save in a single case to furnish an example. In late August the Bergamot blossoms in luxuriant heads of white and purplish pink bloom, similar in tint to the abundant Phlox. Both grow freely in the garden of Sylvester Manor. When the Bergamot has romped in your borders for two or three years, you may wish to exile it to a vegetable garden, near the blackberry vines. ”

“ The tree is cultivated in southern Calabria, whence the entire supply of bergamot oil is drawn. Machinery is mostly used to express the oil from the fruit, which is gathered in November and December. The oil, which on standing deposits a stearoptene, bergamot camphor or bergaptene, is a limpid greenish-yellow fluid of a specific gravity of 0·882 to 0·886, and its powerful but pleasant odour is mainly due to the presence of linalyl acetate, or bergamiol, which can be artificially prepared by heating linalol with acetic anhydride. The chief use of bergamot oil is in perfumery. ”

“ When bergamot is mixed with other essential oils it greatly adds to their richness, and gives a sweetness to spice oils attainable by no other means, and such compounds are much used in the most highly scented soaps. ”

“ The essences usually sold are made by adding half an ounce of pure oil to one pint of spirits of wine.
Bergamot, Essence of.—From the peel of the bergamot lemon.
Bitter Almonds, Essence of.—This is obtained by distilling the cake or residue of the almonds after the oil has been expressed from them. It is a deadly poison, containing prussic acid, like all other nuts or leaves which possess the bitter principle. Flies drop dead when passing over the still when it is in operation. The essence usually sold is one ounce of oil to seven ounces of rectified spirit. ”

“ When distilled with water it becomes perfectly colorless, but is less durable. Its odor is very pleasant, somewhat like a mixture of orange and lemon oils. Its specific gravity is 0.87 to 0.89. By standing for some time, the oil separates white crystalline scales (stearoptene) , which melt at 223° F. The oil becomes solid a few degrees below the freezing point. The Messina oil of bergamot is considered the best. From other volatile oils of the orange family, bergamot oil differs in dissolving readily in caustic potash, forming a clear solution. ”

“ In the first place, I must impress upon you that when you are dressing for church, as a general thing, you mix your perfumes too much; your fragrance is sometimes oppressive; you saturate yourself with cologne and bergamot, until you make a sort of Hamlet's Ghost of yourself, and no man can decide, with the first whiff, whether you bring with you air from Heaven or from hell. Now, rectify this matter as soon as possible; last Sunday you smelled like a secretary to a consolidated drug store and barber shop. And you came and sat in the same pew with me ”

“ Adulteration—Essence of bergamot, like that of lemon, is extensively and systematically adulterated, and very little is sent into the market entirely pure. It is often mixed with oil of turpentine, but a finer adulteration is to dilute it with essential oil of the leaves or with that obtained by distillation of the peel or of the residual fruits. Some has of late been adulterated with petroleum. ”

“ All the citron oils (i.e., oils of lemon, bergamot, and those with similar odor) , rose oils (oils of rose, geranium, and rhodium) , and many other sweet scents are most fragrant when dissolved in pure spirit of wine, while the odors from the animal kingdom and those of violet (violet and orris root) smell sweetest when dissolved in grain spirit.
The essences prepared from pomades or huiles antiques usually contain in solution some fat which is best removed by cooling. ”

“ Raised by T. Rivers, Sawbridgeworth, Eng., from seed of Gansel Late Bergamot; received a first-class certificate from the Royal Horticultural Society in 1878. Fruit produced in great clusters, small, size of Seckel, obovate, even in outline, grass-green, with a dull brownish cheek, changing to deep yellow and bright red cheek with an orange glow; flesh melting, remarkably sweet like honey, with a brisk acidulous flavor and perfume of lemon ”

“ Oil of lavender two drachms, oil of rosemary one drachm and a half, orange, lemon and bergamot, one drachm each of the oil; also two drachms of the essence of musk, attar of rose ten drops, and a pint of proof spirit. Shake all together thoroughly three times a day for a week. ”

“ In the case of oils like bergamot oil, the odour value of which depends chiefly on their ester content, it is very important that these should not be added to soaps containing much free alkali, as these esters are readily decomposed thereby. Some perfumes possess the property of helping the soap to retain other and more delicate odours considerably longer than would otherwise be possible. ”

“ For this purpose otto of French lavender, or otto of bergamot, answers very well. We need scarcely mention that the corks are dipped into melted sealing-wax, or brushed over with liquid wax, that is, red or black wax dissolved in alcohol, to which a small portion of ether is added. The only other compound of ammonia that is sold in the perfumery trade is Eau de Luce, though properly it belongs to the druggist. When correctly made—which is very rarely the case—it retains the remarkable odor of oil of amber, which renders it characteristic. ”

“ Fruit similar in shape and size to Gansel Bergamot, green, thickly covered with russet dots and freckles which sometimes form patches, yellow-green when ripe, flesh white, rather coarse and gritty, not very juicy nor melting in England; in France and America, however, it seems to become more juicy, melting and rich, vinous and highly perfumed; good to very good ”

“ The purity and thorough blending of the ingredients are of the greatest importance. The original perfume is simulated and even excelled by artificial preparations. The oils of lemon, bergamot and orange are employed, together with the oils of neroli and rosemary in the better class. ”

“ Oil of Bergamot spreads instantly; in thirty seconds tiny openings appear, not very abundant, and increase in size slowly; in five minutes they are not larger than oil of nutmeg at one and a half minute. At first they have a dotted border, but as they increase in size this changes to a scalloped film, which spreads, until, in eight or ten minutes, they are joined together over the whole surface. This, with the turpentine oil, gives a watered surface in spreading, much more marked, and with a fine play of colours. ”

“ Oxidized principles have been isolated in essences related to the fatty series, capable of facile transformation into cyclic derivatives, which may be regarded as connecting links between the fatty and the aromatic series. Frequently a natural essence represents a harmonious mixture of various combinations. Oil of bergamot, having a composition of this character, possesses an odor vastly more characteristic than any of its components taken separately. ”

“ It has only one fault; it suffers from zeal without discretion. It will not keep within proper bounds. At the present moment I am wondering whether it is better to dig up the bergamot or rout out the peppermint; they are having a hand-to-hand fight for supremacy in one particular flower corner.
I am afraid my needlework was a mere matter of form that morning. Who could glue their eyes to a piece of hemstitching with the whole earth fairly dancing with colour and light around them? ”

“ It appears to consist of hydrocarbons, C10H16, and their hydrates, neither of which have as yet been satisfactorily isolated. Oil of bergamot, like that of turpentine, yields crystals of the composition C10H16 + 3H2O, if 8 parts are allowed to stand some weeks with 1 part of spirit of wine, 2 of nitric acid (sp. gr. 1·2) and 10 of water, the mixture being frequently shaken. No solid compound is produced by saturating the oil with anhydrous hydrochloric gas. ”

“ The Bergamot is a Species of the Citron, produced at first casually by an Italian’s Grafting a Citron on the Stock of a Burgamot Pear Tree, whence the Fruit produced by this Union participated both of the Citron Tree and Pear Tree. ”

“ The numerous formulas show that oils of lemon, bergamot, and orange form normal constituents of every Cologne water; the finer grades always contain, in addition, oils of rosemary and neroli. It is advisable to dissolve the aromatics in very strong alcohol and then to effect the dilution required with orange-flower or rose water. This dilution is also to be employed when a cheaper product is desired.
Lavender Perfumes.
English (Mitcham) oil of lavender should always be used when it is desired to produce perfumes of first quality. ”

“ Eau de Cologne—Cologne Water.—Oil of lavender, oil of bergamot, oil of lemon, oil of neroli, each one ounce; oil of cinnamon, half31 an ounce; spirit of rosemary, fifteen ounces; highly rectified spirits, eight pints. Let them stand fourteen days; then distil in a water bath.
2. Essential oils of bergamot, lemon, neroli, orange-peel and rosemary, each twelve drops; cardamon seeds, one drachm, rectified spirits, one pint. It improves by age. ”

“ But it should be noted that these oils, as well as those of bergamot, caraway, star-anise, and some others, could well be employed for cheap perfumes and for scenting soap. Oil of dill also finds application alone in the preparation of some face washes, and the dried fennel herb in cheap sachets.
Oil of Lilac
can be made at slight cost from the flowers, as the raw material is obtainable without much trouble; it forms a yellow, strong-scented oil. In perfumery, however, use is generally made only of the pomade made from the fresh flowers or the alcoholic extract prepared from it. ”

“ For the requirements of the middle classes, quite fragrant perfumes are manufactured by dissolving the cheaper essential oils in ordinary alcohol, and various new odors can be obtained by mixing several of them. The extracts made with cheap oils are well suited to this purpose. The oils most frequently used for such articles are those of bergamot, lemon, orange peel, lavender flowers (French) , lemon grass, nutmeg, clove, and santal. The alcohol must be free from fusel oil and have a strength of at least 70% Tralles. ”

“ Nor is the outer rind less valuable, as it forms the basis of an excellent conserve; and, when preserved with sugar, is deservedly esteemed in desserts, being a grateful aromatic bitter, and one of the best stomachics.—There is also an oil expressed from the orange-peel, which is sold under the name of Bergamot. ”

“ Orange sachet powder.—Ground orange peels 100 drachms, ground lemon peels 50, ground lavender flowers 25, Portugal oil 10, neroli oil and petit grain oil each 11⁄2, bergamot oil 21⁄2, musk-tincture 11⁄2, musk-root tincture 10.
Solid Perfumes with Paraffine. The solid perfumes simply consist of hard paraffine, which, when melted, is perfumed with a corresponding quantity of any desired perfume-essence and poured into moulds. ”

“ Paraffine, 1 ounce; white petrolatum, 2 ounces; heliotropin, 10 grains; oil of bergamot, 5 drops; oil of lavender, 5 drops; oil of cloves, 2 drops. Melt the first two substances, then add the next, the oils last, and stir all until cool. After settling cut into blocks and wrap in tin foil. This is a disseminator of perfume. It perfumes where it is rubbed. It kills moths and perfumes the wardrobe. It is used by rubbing on cloth, clothes, and the handkerchief. ”