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About The Book : Solomon remarks, "Ointments and perfumes rejoice the heart." of all the five senses the faculty of smelling affords the most exquisite pleasure. Although to many it is the least valued, to the refined and cultivated it is the most esteemed; for those who neglect to develop this pleasant faculty fail to appreciate and are often led to breathe vitiated air. Thus poison and malaria enter the system by neglecting the warning given by the nose, that outpost of the animal citadel. All persons using and appreciating perfumes become most sensitive to the presence of bad air. If refinement consists in the knowledge of the best mode of enjoying the higher faculties we possess, we must learn to distinguish the melody of perfumes, as well as the harmony of color, form, and sound, and enjoy sweet odors equally with all other pleasures so liberally bestowed to gratify our senses. In a sanitary point of view, the use of perfumes is in the highest degree valuable. For although we cannot claim great curative properties for them, yet at the same time we hold that their moderate use is more beneficial than otherwise, and their refreshing properties have often been known to assist in restoring the invalid to health. Many think the use of perfumes and cosmetics pre- judicial to health, but in refutation it is only necessary to say, that when the cholera prevailed in Paris and London, all those persons who worked in the laboratories of the perfumers escaped its ravages; and as further evidence, when the Dutch on the island of Ternate destroyed the clove tree the colony suffered from epidemics and diseases unknown before. About The Author : R. S. Cristiani, Consulting Chemist and Perfumer of Philadelphia. He has worked on the following topics, namely, Essences, Tinctures, Extracts, Spirits, Waters, Vinegars, Pomades, Powders, Paints, Oils, Emulsions, Cosmetics, Infusions, Pastils, tooth powders and Washes,Cachous, Hair Dyes, Sachets, Essential Oils, Flavoring extracts, etc., He has authored the following title, namely, Perfumery and Kindred Arts: A Comprehensive Treatise on Perfumery (1877); A Technical Treatise on Soap and Candles, With a Glance at the Industry of Fats and Oils (1881).