PERFUMES
INTERVIEW with Mr. GROSSMITH.

April 1, 1897 The British Trade Journal

A Most interesting hour or two can be spent, writes a representative of THE BRITISH TRADE JOURNAL, in visiting the new business premises and factory of Messrs. J. Grossmith & Son, where, in the course of an interview with the present head of the firm, I learnt much concerning perfumes and perfumery. The firm have now been established in Newgate Street, City, for nearly fifty years; and they would still be in the same premises had not the advance of the Central Railway Company compelled them to remove to the present extensive building at No. 29. This has been refitted from the basement to the topmost story to suit the special requirements of their trade. The removal, too, has led to the introduction of much new machinery and apparatus; and this has been selected from among the most approved modern forms.

Messrs. J. Grossmith & Son's New Premises.

On the ground floor is the show or sample-room, with a large entrance, office, and waiting-room, the whole, including the doorway being designed in mediaeval style, all thr woodwork being of solid carved oak .  On the first floor are the clerks' offices and counting-house, the private offices of the managing clerk and of Mr. Grossmith. On the second floor are the laboratories, and the mixing and refrigerating departments; and in the upper stories I found the soap-drying, polishing, and powder or sachet-rooms, and those for filling, trimming, and packing bottles of scents, making cosmetics, smelling salts, tooth powders, and packing toilet soaps, to say nothing of the store-rooms for bottles, labels, and fancy boxes. The departments are all connected by telephone, and the building is lighted by electricity and heated by steam pipes. In the basement the soapmelting and refining processes are carried out, and here are the boiler and one of the steam engines. There the soaps are cut, stamped, or pressed by machinery, and thence carried by lift to the packing departments. Another warehouse belonging to the firm is situated in the adjoining street, known as Ivy Lane—a typical City thoroughfare—and there I found another set of finishing and packing rooms and stores containing innumerable bottles, stoppers, labels, silk ribbons, kid top coverings and fancy boxes, all of which were being deftly handled by a large staff of girls,while the warehousemen were at work on the ground floor with the filling and dispatch of packing cases. A third set of premises belonging to the firm is situated near the docks,and there the export trade is applied, the goods being packed and shipped in bond.

Perfumery as an Art

A visitor sitting in Mr. Grossmith's office, adds our representative, could easily imagine himself in a region quite remote from London; one in which perfume reigns supreme, and the air is redolent of Parma violets, musk roses, and the lotus lily of Japan. He begins, amid such a wealth of sweet odours, to discover a new pleasure—a novel and sensuous charm—one which the world at large has not yet realized. The Orientals have perhaps a keener appreciation of the sense of smell and the enjoyment which may be derived therefrom ; but we Europeans, at the end of the nineteenth century, appear to be only on the point of realizing the wealth of delight in a bounteous and richly-compounded bouquet filled with the fragrance of flowers. All the subtle influences of perfumes are now only beginning to be known. This was the train of thought which led me to inquire into the prospects of the perfumery trade. “That is a trade,” replied Mr. Grossmith, “which requires infinite art, infinite core infinit- "-" --F. Let no one who suffers from ...(missing text)...
of new combinations, novel forms of emballage, and rich, effective, and artistic finish. And then when, perhaps after years of thought and study, you produce a new creation and spend thousands of pounds to make it known, you wake up one morning to find that some unscrupulous competitor in Germany or America has put on the market an inferior imitation, copying your labels, your design, the shape of your bottles, and stealing your brains. I can show you instances of this in the case of our “Phúl-Nana' and ‘Hasu-no-Hana' perfumes, and others. Of course we instantly set the law in motion and stopped these nefarious infringements, but not before much harm had been done.” “But such imitation is convincing proof,” I remarked, “that you have most undoubtedly hit the public taste—or rather, olfactory sense—in the preparation of those famous perfumes.” “To gauge the general public demand in perfumes is a most difficult matter,” Mr. Grossmith went on to explain. “I doubt whether two persons are ever affected in the same way by the same perfume. The olfactive power of the one is not nearly so powerful as that of the other. Hence some will notice scarcely anything remarkable in a new scent. The odorous particles are there, but they cannot produce any effect on the nerve; just as some persons can never hear any difference between the musical tones G and F and E. Hence the most careful combinations of the perfumers' art are apt to fail. Then one scent may seem pleasant to  you, but to another person it may be extremely obnoxious. You must have met with those who have a natural antipathy to the scent of certain flowers—an idiosyncrasy, in fact, which nothing can remove. With all those difficulties the perfumer has to contend.”

EDUCATING THE NOSE.

“Besides an artistic conception of the beautiful the manufacturing perfumer must have a good nose. He should be able to distinguish the various primary extracts of which a bouquet is compounded. This can only be done by an educated olfactor; it eludes the analysis of science, and such education requires years of study and experiments. The user of perfumes finds it an impossible task. He or she may be able to distinguish one blend from another, “Jockey Club from “Phúl-Nāna,” for instance; but even this is not always the case. A trained nose not only does this readily, but can inform its possessor what are the essences of which it is put together. My son is now studying at Grasse in order to acquire this faculty, and to go through the practical details of the first manufacturing processes—those which produce the original essences—or matières prenières of perfumes.”
“But come with me,” added Mr. Grossmith, “I will show you the basis with which all out perfumes are produced". With that he led the way to the floor above, where I saw long | rows of tins, which on being opened disclosed to view a substance of the colour and consistency of butter.

PERFUMERY MATERIALS.

“It is mixed with that fatty ingredient that the scents or extracts of flowers are imported from the works at Grasse, the centre of the flower-growing industry. Roses, violets, orange blossoms, and cassie, when freshly gathered, are thrown into a melted fatty compound, which is allowed to cool. It is then re-melted, the flowers are strained off and pressed and new flowers added, and this is repeated until the necessary strength is attained. Jasmines, tuberoses, and jonquils are abstracted by an absorption process, which consists in spreading the fatty substance in thin layers on glass frames, and placing flowers thereon, from which the grease absorbs the delicate properties. After twenty-four hours fresh flowers are added, and so on until a sufficiently strong perfume is arrived at. | Each pound of the fatty compound is thus made to hold the essence of from six to eight pounds of flowers. It is the perfumer's business to separate the extract from the medium in which it is conveyed and preserved, and then to blend it in such a way with a number of other extracts, and with “fixing’ materials, that it shall be less evanescent and form a weareable and refreshing perfume.”
[....]
otto of roses—an all-important ingredient distilled from roses in Bulgaria, where a strip of land extending some forty miles east to west yields an average of 5500 lbs. a year. Each vase contains from 30 to 80 ozs., and is worth from 35l. to 100l. ; but an 80-oz. vase contains the essence of more than seven tons of roses. The essential oils come next, and these are derived chiefly from orange trees in the south of France and Italy, which also yield orange water. Next in importance are the essential oils of lavender, grown and distilled at Mitcham in Surrey. This forms the basis of the ever-refreshing perfume known as triple lavender water. There are also stores of many other kinds of essential oils at these works. Mention must be made of the animal substances, which have the invaluable property of “fixing,” rendering less fugitive the subtle exhalations of flowers. Among these are musk and ambergris. Musk is a brown substance found in the scent-bag of the musk deer of the Asiatic Alps, and ambergris, a hard mass of greyish colour, is found floating on the ocean, and is ejected by the sperm whale when in sickness. These are worth from 5l. to 10l. an ounce. Civet and castoreum, from the civet cat and the beaver, are also used as fixing ingredients. But all these, by themselves, and in their concentrated forms, I did not find at all pleasant. Yet the perfumer by skilful use can blend them with pleasant odours and entirely cloak the original effect.

SOME OF THE PROCESSES.

Having seen the basis or raw materials, I passed into the laboratory where an expert examines and compounds the various extracts. These have previously been separated from the fats or pommasles by means of ingeniously constructed machinery and by the aid of alcohol. The resultant product forms the body of such scents as Jockey Club, White Rose, and Ess. Bouquet, and a two-ounce bottle of such perfumes, or triple extract, contains the fragrance of one pound of fresh-culled flowers, besides the essential oils and other ingredients necessary to support or fix the perfume.
Wherever we went, whether through the offices or basement or the top stories, we were surrounded by the fragrance from the laboratory and compounding rooms, “breathing the scent of field and grove.” I asked whether such a constant plethora of dainty odours was in any way prejudicial.
“Quite the contrary,” said Mr. Grossmith, “is the case. A noted French physician records the fact, writing of the hygiene of perfumery, that in the great epidemic of cholera in Paris, when i0 per cent. of the population were affected, that those engaged in the perfumery business, numbering 10,000, were entirely exempt. Vegetable perfumes exercise a positively healthful influence on the atmosphere, converting, as scientific tests show, its oxygen into ozone, and thus increasing its oxidizing influence.”

NEW CREATIONS.

A new perfume is a rarity, and the perfumer who produces it may be likened to the astronomer “when a new planet sweeps into his ken.” Yet this has been the good fortune of Messrs. J. Grossmith & Son on more than one occasion. Their “Phúl-Nănă,” a bouquet of Indian flowers, was a triumph; so, too, is their “Hasu-no-Hana,” or extract of the lotus lily of Japan. So different are these from the eau-de-colognes with which the public olfactive sense had been so long satiated, that they at once met the craving for something new, and took a firm place in the fashionable world. The Princess of Wales and other leaders of Society are among their most devoted patrons; and at a recent London exhibition the presentation of “Phúl-Nănă” perfumes to Her Royal Highness was one of the most pleasing and interesting events. These and other new perfumes are also used by the firm in the production of their soaps, dentifrices, sachets, and powders—to which they lend a distinctive charm. Another great success in the trade was the introduction of the “Bethrothal’’ bouquet on the occasion of the marriage of Princess May; and their “Verus Naturae'' series, consisting of twelve refined odours, true to nature, were equally remarkable. Nothing is left undone to render as refined as possible the artistic finish of the surroundings—the clear-cut crystal bottles, the freshness of the tints, the whiteness of the caps, and the elegance of the cases—all of which are points requiring most careful study before a new line in perfumery can be put upon the market.
“The latest new perfume,” said Mr. Grossmith, “is one in commemoration of the
“QUEEN’S DiAMOND JUBILEE,
“to be known as the ‘Victorian Bouquet,' a tribute of fragrance in commemoration of the Record Reign.” I was then shown an “advance copy” of the case, and the specially-designed bottle to contain this new creation. Both are distinguished by a real charm of novelty and elegance of finish and tints—the case being in a delicate shade of pink and the bottle of an emerald tint. The label bears a representation of the rose, thistle, and shamrock, together with a portrait of Her Majesty, and the shape of the bottle is in itself emblematical. In its design it resembles the orb, whilst the stopper takes the form of the Maltese Cross. The perfume has the distinction of having been distilled only from the most fragrant flowers and plants produced by the British Empire. The “Victorian Bouquet” is a worthy souvenir of the most auspicious event of 1897, and its special claims on the public throughout the British possessions should ensure its success. Not less successful than their perfumes are this firm's toilet soaps and cosmetic preparations, into the production of which the fragrance of their scents so largely enters, making them partake of their special character. To these achievements of the perfumer's art Mr. Grossmith hopes to add still others. He represents the second generation of the Grossmiths, the firm having been established by his father in 1838. It has done much for the reputation of British perfumes, which even amongst so critical and refined a people as those of modern Japan are the most popular makes in the market, being greatly preferred to the more evanescent productions of Germany and France; and this is as true at home and in America and the Colonies as in the Land of the Crysanthemum.

Source: https://books.google.com/books?id=w7hNAQAAMAAJ&lpg=PA176&ots=BiA3Y3EFaP&dq=%22otto%20of%20roses%E2%80%94an%20all-important%20ingredient%20distilled%20from%20roses%20in%20Bulgaria%2C%22&pg=PA175#v=onepage
MEssrs. J. GRossMITH, SoN & Co., 29, Newgate Street, London, | E.C., whose handsome show case at the Brussels Exhibition we | described and illustrated in our August number, were present near the entrance with an elaborately and skilfully arranged collection of their famous perfumes, a prominent place being occupied by the new “Victorian Bouquet”—the perfume of the Diamond Jubilee year.

Supplement to "The Chemist and Druggist," January 30th, 189

J. Geossmith, Son & Co., 29 Newgate Street, E.C., insert
an illustrated price-list of their perfumes and toilet soaps.

This list contains on the front page a larger
illustration of their splendid new premises than
we were able to use in a recent description thereof. We
may recall the fact here that Messrs. Grossmith have, during
recent years, enriched perfumery with several new distinct
odours, and some of these are illustrated in the inset. They
are also the makers of the " Enterprise" perfumes supplied
in bulk, and it will be noticed that sachet-powders, skin-
creams, and smeUing-salts are included. (Pp. 32-33.)

MEssrs. J. GRossMITH, SoN & Co., 29, Newgate Street, London, | E.C., whose handsome show case at the Brussels Exhibition we | described and illustrated in our August number, were present near the entrance with an elaborately and skilfully arranged collection of their famous perfumes, a prominent place being occupied by the new “Victorian Bouquet”—the perfume of the Diamond Jubilee year. - MEssrs. H. Poths & Co., 3, Creechurch Lane, Leadenhall Street, London, E.C., were present with a splendid collection of stoppered bottles and porcelain shop jars, with vitrified labels. Among the newer exhibits were bottles labelled with names of photographic chemicals, drop bottles, &c. The display also included carboys and show bottles of all kinds and metal screw-capped bottles.

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