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How to Pack a Rectifying Tub

To rectify from 10 below proof to 50 above proof. 30 bushels of maple charcoal are re- | a steam-jacket for the purpose. A water-bath, quired for a tub seven feet high and four feet the boiling-point of which should be raised in diameter; a tub of this size will give a clear bed of 14 inches. At two inches from the bottom of the tub place a false bottom perforated with -inch holes, and cover this bottom with sailcloth or blanket. Then pack in the charcoal regularly and very tightly with a wooden pestle. Great attention should be given to this part of the operation, in orby the addition of about 1 its weight of common salt, comes next in point of convenience and effect. When the still is exposed to the heat of a naked fire, or that of dry flues, a little water must be put into it along with the spirit and other ingredients, to prevent empyreuma; and the greatest care must be taken to stop the process, and to remove the reder to prevent the occurrence of holes or ceiver, as soon as the proper quantity of discrevices in the charcoal during the process of filtration. Pack the sides of the tub thoroughly. Cover the charcoal with sailcloth, place laths over the cloth, and use heavy stones to keep the charcoal down. tillate is obtained. If this be neglected, the odor of the whole may be vitiated. Moderately rapid distillation is favorable to the odor of the product, as is also the elevation of the boiling-point in the liquid operated on.

Spirit distilled from aromatics decreases in odor with the boiling-point of the ingredients in the still. To raise the latter, the addition Perfumery. The receipts in this of 1 to 14 pounds of common salt per gallon department embrace a great variety of odorous essences, extracts, tinctures, oils, pomades, cosmetics, dentifrices, and other articles of the toilet, and are all derived from the latest and best authorities. is often advantageously made. (See Nos. 5, 6 and 7.) By one or other of the above methods, or a combination of them, are, in general, prepared all the "eaux," "esprits," and "extraits," of the perfumers. As a rule, extraits and essences are preferred to eaux and esprits as the basis of good perfumery, when the color is not objectionable. Whatever process is adopted, the utmost care must be taken in the selection of the spirit used.

Only spirit that is absolutely pure, flavorless, and scentless, must be employed, if we desire the product to be of fine quality. Malt-spirit 940. How to Prepare Essences and Perfumed Spirits. The scented spirits of the perfumer are merely alcoholic solutions of the aromatic and odorous principles of the substances they represent, obtained in one or other of the following ways:-By simply adding essential oil or other odoriferous matter to the spirit, and agitating them together until solution is complete. Occasionally the resulting or corn-spirit contaminated, even in the very slightest degree, with fusel-oil or corn-oil, or a alcoholic solution is distilled. By macerating or digesting the ingredients (previously bruised whiskey-odor, is utterly unfit for the purpose. or pulverized) in the spirit, with frequent agi- So also the refined methylated spirit now so tation, for a few days, when the resulting commonly and fraudulently sold as spirit of tincture is either decanted and filtered (if ne- wine. The extreme purity of the spirit emcessary), or the whole is thrown into a still, ployed by the French manufacturing perfumers and submitted to distillation by a gentl gentle heat. -it being actually spirit of wine, and not In the former case, the spirit retained in the merely so in name is one of the reasons why pores of the solid ingredients, and which, con- their odoriferous spirits are so much superior sequently, cannot be drawn off, is obtained by to those of the American houses. Great care powerful pressure. (See Nos. 39 and 40.) must also be taken in the selection of the es- By digesting the spirit, with frequent agita- sential oils intended to be employed in making tion on highly scented pomade or oil, in a perfumed spirits. These should be pure or close vessel, at a gentle heat for some hours, genuine, and should be pale and recent, or of and the next day decanting the perfumed the last season's distillation. If they be old, spirit. (See No. 40.) Distillation is only ap- or have been much exposed to the air, they plicable to substances of which the fragrant will contain more or less resin, and their alcoprinciples are volatile, and readily pass over holic solution will be defective in fragrance, with the spirit during the process. Thus, and be liable to permanently stain delicate flowers, flowering tops, herbs, seeds, &c., may, articles of clothing to which it may be apin general, be so treated; but not musk, am- plied. The strength of the spirit used for bergris, vanilla, and a few other substances, concentrated essences, as a rule, should not of which the odor is of a more fixed nature. be less than 90 per cent., or of the specific (See No. 13.) In proceeding by distillation, gravity.8332. A few require a spirit of even one of the first points to be attended to is, to see that the still, condensing-worm, or refrigerator, and the receiver, be perfectly clean and sweet, and absolutely free from the odor of any previous distillation. The lute employed to secure the still-head or capital to the still must also be of a simple character, incapable of conveying any taint to the hot vapor that comes in contact with it. (Linseedineal or equal weights of linseed-meal and greater strength than this. The first quality of extraits, particularly those prepared from pomades and oils, and many of the eaux and esprits, also require 90 per cent. spirit. The strength of the spirit for the others, and for second qualities (commonly sold as the best in the stores), must be fully 75 per cent., or of the specific gravity .8765; that of the third quality fully 70 per cent., or specific gravity 8892; and that of the fourth quality fully whiting, made into a stiff paste or dough with proof, or specific gravity .920. The last is water, is a good lute for the purpose. Sweet the lowest quality, and the weakest of any almond-cake meal is still better.) The most kind made by respectable perfumers; but the convenient and manageable source of heat is double distilled lavender-water, eau de Cohigh-pressure steam supplied from an adjacent logne, and other scents, vended in little showy boiler, the body of the still being enclosed in bottles, by the druggists, and in fancy-stores, are commonly even much weaker than this, being often under proof. (See No. 1435.) The capacity of spirit, at this strength, of dissolving essential oil and other odorous matter is, however, very little. The solvent power of spirit decreases with its strength, but much more rapidly. (Cooley.)