The Art of Perfumery, and Methods of Obtaining the Odors of Plants: With Instructions for the Manufacture of Perfumes for the Handkerchief, Scented Powders, Odorous Vinegars, Dentifrices, Pomatums, Cosmetics, Perfumed Soap, Etc., to which is Added an Appendix on Preparing Artificial Fruit-Essences, Etc.Piesse, G. W. Septimus (George William Septimus)
History
The Art of Perfumery, and Methods of Obtaining the Odors of Plants: With Instructions for the Manufacture of Perfumes for the Handkerchief, Scented Powders, Odorous Vinegars, Dentifrices, Pomatums, Cosmetics, Perfumed Soap, Etc., to which is Added an Appendix on Preparing Artificial Fruit-Essences, Etc.
Piesse, G. W. Septimus (George William Septimus)
Cosmetics; Perfumes
The name of pomatum is derived from _pomum_, an apple, because it was
originally made by macerating over-ripe apples in grease.
If an apple be stuck all over with spice, such as cloves, then exposed
to the air for a few days, and afterwards macerated in purified melted
lard, or any other fatty matter, the grease will become perfumed.
Repeating the operation with the same grease several times, produces
real "pomatum."
According to a recipe published more than a century ago the form given
is:--"Kid's grease, an orange sliced, pippins, a glass of rose-water,
and half a glass of white wine, boiled and strained, and at last
sprinkled with oil of sweet almonds." The author, Dr. Quincy, observes,
that "the apple is of no significance at all in the recipe," and, like
many authors of the present day, concludes that the reader is as well
acquainted with the subject as the writer, and therefore considers that
the weights or bulk of the materials in his recipe are, likewise, of no
significance. According to ancient writers, unguent, pomatum, ointment,
are synonymous titles for medicated and perfumed greases. Among biblical
interpreters, the significant word is mostly rendered "ointment;" thus
we have in Prov. 27:9, "Ointment and perfume rejoice the heart;" in
Eccles. 9:8, "Let thy head lack no ointment."
Perfumers, acting upon their own or Dr. Quincy's advice, pay no regard
to the apples in the preparation of pomatum, but make it by perfuming
lard or suet, or a mixture of wax, spermaceti, and oil, or some of them
or all blended, to produce a particular result, according to the name
that it bears.
The most important thing to consider in the manufacture of pomatum, &c.,
is to start off with a _perfectly inodorous_ grease, whatever that
grease may be.
Inodorous lard is obtained thus:--Take, say 28 lbs. of _perfectly fresh_
lard, place it in a well-glazed vessel, that can be submitted to the
heat of a boiling salt-water bath, or by steam under a slight pressure;
when the lard is melted, add to it one ounce of powdered alum and two
ounces of table salt; maintain the heat for some time, in fact till a
scum rises, consisting in a great measure of coagulated proteine
compounds, membrane, &c., which must be skimmed off; when the liquid
grease appears of a uniform nature it is allowed to grow cold.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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