Perfume through smoke

Mar 18 2010 By Mary Barabe

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The word perfume stems from the Latin ‘per fumum’, meaning ‘through smoke’. Originating from the burning of incense including frankincense and myrrh in religious ceremonies, the process of creating scent was adopted by many ancient civilisations including the Egyptians, who also invented glass and used it to create bottles for its storage, which date from approximately 1000 BC. The production of fragrance was also widely adopted as an Oriental art and was used between the Tang and Ming dynasties.

In Europe, perfume was first used to stem the flow of disease when doctors treating plague-ridden patients covered their mouths with bags of strongly scented herbs to ward off infection. The French monarchy’s adoption of scent heightened its appeal further. Louis XIV was known as ‘the perfume king’. This established an entire industry devoted to the development of scent for use by the King and his court in Grasse in the South of France, where perfumers and apothecaries settled during the seventeenth century.

The Italians also played a vital role in the establishment of modern perfume. Giovanni Maria Farina experimented with fragrance when he took over his uncle’s business in Cologne in Germany, producing a popular blend of neroli, lavender, bergamot and rosemary which was nicknamed eau de cologne by French soldiers stationed there. The scent was a favourite of Napoleon, who would go through several bottles a day. Rose, violet and patchouli scents were also developed around this time.

In England pomanders, posies and lockets were the initial methods used to disperse scent. In the sixteenth century, Elizabethans used scented powders to adorn their clothes and hair. They also toned their skin with fragrant waters and vinegars and used these internally, as their Roman ancestors had. The development of fragrance then began to break away from its medicinal roots, growing apace with the discovery of many new plants to be used in their manufacture and the development of synthetic fragrance.

Perfume wasn’t sold as such until the 1800s when synthetic chemicals could be used in its manufacture. However, once these were developed, it could be mass marketed as scents such as rose, lemon, violet and vanilla were produced from various alcohols. Such a process was invaluable in the development of scent as fragrances such as lily-of-the-valley could only be created synthetically, having no natural plant oils to distil its fragrance from.

Today’s scents contain both natural notes from plant oils as well as synthetic ones. Once the plant oils are extracted, they are blended by an expert who may combine many at once. Once a formula has been established, the plant oils are mixed with alcohol which makes up around 90% of the blend, with approximately 5% plant oil and up to 10% water. Less concentrated forms of perfumes are frequently being developed, ensuring that they can be sold at a lower price for widespread daily use.

Scents are becoming increasingly sophisticated in modern times and it’s sometimes difficult to recognise the various notes used in our favourite fragrances. Perhaps the mystery is part of their appeal.