Eau de cologne

“ Suzanne's habit of command served her well. She turned imperiously to Pagett.
"Mr. Pagett. Quick. You've just time. There's a chemist almost opposite the station. Anne must have some eau-de-Cologne."
He hesitated, but Suzanne's imperative manner was too much for him. She is a born autocrat. He went. Suzanne followed him with her eyes till he disappeared.
"Quick, Anne, get out the other side—in case he hasn't really gone, but is watching us from the end of the platform. Never mind your luggage. You can telegraph about that to-morrow. Oh, if only the train starts on time!" ”

“ The English spirit, on the other hand, owes its odor to fusel oil. So powerful is the œanthic ether in the French spirit, that notwithstanding the addition to it of such intensely odoriferous substances as the ottos of neroli, rosemary, and others, it still gives a characteristic perfume to the products made containing it, and hence the difficulty of preparing Eau de Cologne with any spirit destitute of this substance. ”

“ Cologne is a dull old town, containing many narrow ill-paved streets. Every one is acquainted with its celebrity for the manufacture of the favourite perfumed spirit, the eau de Cologne. Originally there was only a single manufactory of this article, but the demand has now so greatly increased, that ten different establishments are engaged in it. We were informed that it sells here for eight francs the case, containing six bottles. ”

“ A long piece of thick matter, like a worm, is extracted; but is no worm. Afterwards wash the face with water in which a small piece of Quillar bark has been steeped, or with bitter almond emulsion, or borax, one drachm, water 4 oz. When there is no inflammation, use Eau de Cologne, or a few drops of oil of rosemary dissolved in spirit of wine, taking a small dose of magnesia in the morning, or milk of sulphur daily. ”

“ After having remained for four months as pellucid as distilled water, the opening of the back-door of the protecting case and the consequent admission of the mote-laden air suffice in three days to render the infusion putrid and full of life.
That such life arises from mechanically suspended particles is thus reduced to ocular demonstration. Let us inquire a little more closely into the character of the particles which produce the life. Pour eau de Cologne into water, a white precipitate renders the liquid milky. ”

“ later on again, the well-worn, sophisticated graces of French society under Louis XV. found a readier interpretation of their charm in the frangipane and maréchale, which offered in their way the very synthesis of the period. Then finally, after the indifference and incuriousness of the First Empire, which used Eau de Cologne and preparations of rosemary to excess, perfumery ran for inspiration, in the train of Victor Hugo and Gautier, to the lands of the sun; it created Oriental essences, selams overpowering with their spicy odours; invented new savours; tried and approved old tones and shades now rediscovered, which it made more complex, more subtle, more choice; ”

“ An addition of tincture of musk or civet should particularly be avoided. Nervous people immediately detect such additions, even if present only in very small quantities, and in most cases refuse the Cologne water containing them.
[Pg 252]
Experience having shown that all alcoholic perfumes develop their proper aroma only after storing for some time, provision must be made to have always a sufficient supply of Cologne water on hand. It is best to keep it in large glass balloons in a cool cellar. Wooden vessels are impracticable on account of their permeability and other evils. ”

“ This famous perfume, which was first made in Cologne on the Rhine, its formula being kept secret, can be produced anywhere of the same quality as the original. In order to obtain a first-class product, it is necessary, besides using the finest oils—a matter of course for all fine perfumes—to observe another special point. Every Cologne water contains oils of the citron group which develop their best odors only in true181 spirit of wine. Unless an alcohol distilled from wine is used, it will be impossible to make a Cologne water of really first quality. ”

“ As to the latter we again repeat that it must be over 88 to 90% strength according to Tralles or even stronger, and that it must be absolutely free from any trace of amyl alcohol (potato fusel oil) , the least amount of which impairs the delicacy of the odor. In this country (the United States) there is no difficulty whatever in obtaining alcohol of proper strength. The market offers scarcely any other but that of 94%. Of course deodorized alcohol, or so-called Cologne spirit should be used. Grain and wine spirits are the kinds which when rectified are to be preferred to all others. ”

“ They couldn't get enough of it; four ounces for four bits—ridic'lous cheap, too, when you consider that it stood us eight dollars an ounce in Topeka. That is, the real stuff that the coons carried around did, but of course the four-ounce bottles wasn't quite so precious, bein' as we filled them with filtered water and soaked the corks in real cologne durin' the afternoons when we wasn't busy. Yes, sir. They sure did like the smell of them corked-up water bottles, and we was doin' well.
"'Quick sales and small profits, is our motto,' says Mike. ”

“ A citizen of Cologne in Coleridge's days, for example, must have been anosmic to most of the seven-and-twenty stenches that offended the Englishman, and in my own time I have counted as many as ten objectionable public perfumes, yea ! ”

“ She's always sure what she wants, Sarah Jane is. The thing she wanted was a cologne-bottle, she said, and it must be just so, shaped like one of them pepper and vinegar what d' you call em's, that they put on hotel tables. She was very pertikeler about the kind. She drew me a picter of it on her slate, so 's to have no mistake, and I promised her if New York could furnish it she should have that identical article, and she was mighty pleased."
Nobody noticed that at the mention of the cologne-bottle, Davy gave a guilty jump, and shrank back [121] into the shadow of Uncle Si's broad shoulders. ”

“ The collodion of some makers always acts in the manner you describe; and we have known it remedied by the addition of about one drachm of spirits of wine to the ounce of collodion. Spirits of wine also added to the nitrate bath—two drachms of spirits of wine to six ounces of the aqueous solution—is sometimes very beneficial. When collodion is inert, and the colour remains a pale milk and water blue after the immersion, a few drops of saturated solution of iodide of silver may be added, as it indicates a deficiency of the iodide. ”

“ 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. ”

“ I figured that cologne was nothing more than alcohol flavoured with aromatic oils, and that inasmuch as both alcohol and oil burn readily, there was no reason why hot air passed through them should not burn also, and carry off some of the aroma as well."
"It certainly was a very pretty idea," said Alice.
"All the M. O. ideas are pretty," said the March Hare. "It is only the question of reducing beauty to the basis of practical utility that confronts us."
"And how did it work?" asked Alice, very much interested.
"Beautifully," said the Hatter. ”

“ It was, therefore, an inexpressible relief to me to hear that we were off for Cologne,—that city of sweet waters and a glorious cathedral!—though I must own to you, Kitty, that in the first of these two attractions the place is disappointing. The manufacturers of the far-famed perfume would seem so successfully to have extracted the odor of the richly gifted flowers, that they have actually left nothing endurable by human nose! Of all the towns in Europe, it is, they tell, the very worst in this respect ”

“ Wilkes remarks, that has more need of 'Cologne-water' than any which he has ever visited. That was Coleridge's impression, also; since the multitudinous seas, he thought, could never wash the river clean again, that 'washed' the town of Cologne:
'Veviers is devoted mainly to cloth manufacture, in which it employs some fifty thousand hands, who work from twelve to fifteen hours a day, and who are drilled to as close a discipline as the convicts in a prison, or slaves at an oar. ”

“ The noted choleraic colic of Amsterdam, in the last century, was entirely caused by the action of vegetable matter in the water-pipes.
Filtration produces no good effect upon hard water. The sulphate of lime, and still more the super-carbonate of lime, are only to be destroyed by boiling. Boiled water, cooled, and agitated in contact with the atmosphere, before use, is a safe and not an unpleasant beverage. It is essential that the water be boiling when “toast and water” is the beverage to be taken.
Water, doubtless, is the natural drink of man—in a natural state. ”

“ Cologne water of the best quality is never offensive.
THE BATH.
Cleanliness is the outward sign of inward purity. Cleanliness of the person is health, and health is beauty. The bath is consequently a very important means of preserving the health and enhancing the beauty. It is not to be supposed that we bathe simply to become clean, but because we wish to remain clean. Cold water refreshes and invigorates, but does not cleanse, and persons who daily use a sponge bath in the morning, should frequently use a warm one, of from ninety-six to one hundred degrees Fahrenheit for cleansing purposes. ”

“ Excellent simple collodion is to be procured now at the reasonable price of eight shillings the pint, which will to many be more satisfactory than trusting to their own operations.
To make the sensitizing Fluid.—Put into a clean stoppered bottle, holding more than the quantity required so as to allow of free shaking, six drachms of iodide of potassium and one drachm of bromide of potassium; wet them with one drachm of distilled water first, then pour into the bottle ten ounces of spirits of wine (not alcohol) ; shake frequently until dissolved. ”

“ If perspiration were injurious, nature would not have provided it. In fact, it was nature's method of keeping the body clean, and if people were unreasonably fastidious about such things a little cologne would render them even more agreeable to the senses than any number of baths. That was the purpose of cologne. This habit of bathing at fixed intervals of a week or two, regardless of conditions, might be, and probably was, responsible for all of O'Reilly's rheumatism. Mr. Carbajal, for one, knew better than to overdo the thing. ”

“ Now Cologne earth consists of a brown-coal mould, dark brown in colour, of earthy character and of such low cohesive power that it crumbles with ease. Owing to this character, Cologne earth can be easily ignited by the flame of a candle, and then burns with a strong, smoky flame, leaving very little ash and disseminating the peculiar bituminous smell given off when brown coal is burned. ”

“ Were the facts as stated by your correspondent, it would deprive Mr. Archer undoubtedly of the merit which he claims; but from all I have been able to learn, Le Gray mentioned collodion as a mere agent for obtaining a smooth surface to paper, or other substance, having no idea of making it the sole sensitive substance to be employed. I have been informed that in Vienna, early in 1850, collodion was tried upon glass by being first immersed in a bath of iodide of potassium; and it was afterwards placed in a second bath of nitrate of silver. ”

“ Collodion in which there is a great excess of ether gives by its evaporation a very tough film; the film left by collodion containing a large quantity of alcohol is soft and easily torn; but in hot climates the presence of an excess of alcohol is an advantage, as it prevents the rapid evaporation of the ether. Under the microscope, the film produced by collodion of good quality appears translucent and colourless. To preserve collodion it should be kept cool and out of the action of the light ”

“ The nature of the complaints against chlorinated water is very diversified and includes imparting foreign tastes and odours, causing colic, killing fish and birds, the extraction of abnormal amounts of tannin from tea, the destruction of plants and flowers, the corrosion of water pipes, and that horses and other animals refuse to drink it. ”

“ Pour it into another, kept handy for the purpose, the contents of which, at the end of the day’s work, empty into the stock bottle after such a quantity as is sufficient for next day’s consumption has been decanted into the pourer.
The best bottle from which to pour the collodion upon the plate is the tall capped bottle sold by the dealers as collodion pourers. {12}
THE NITRATE OF SILVER BATH (1) .
The silver bath is a most important factor in the production of good negatives. It must be compounded with care and used with skill. ”

“ They mix in all proportions with the fixed oils, dissolve freely in both alcohol and ether, and are sparingly soluble in water, forming ‘perfumed’ or ‘medicated waters.’ Their boiling point usually ranges between 310° and 325° Fahr., and is always considerably higher than that of water. They resist saponification, and (excepting oil of cloves) do not combine with the salifiable bases. Their density fluctuates a little on either side of water. The lightest oil is that of citrons (sp. gr. ·847) , and the heaviest that of sassafras (sp. gr. 1·096) . When cooled sufficiently, they all solidify. ”