Democratic Sentinel, Volume 17, Number 11, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 March 1893 — How Flowers Produce Perfume. [ARTICLE]

How Flowers Produce Perfume.

The rose would no doubt “ smell n 9 sweet by any other name,” but how does it contrive to “ smell sweet ”at all ? In other words, by what mode do flowers produce their perfume ? This is one of things which, although they may seem to belong especially to the realm of poetry, cannot escape the pursuit of science. M. Mesnard, a French chemist, has been subjecting flowers to analysis in order to find out how they become fragraut. Being cut into sections and having pure hydrochloric acid poured over them, it is no wonder that the tender flowers gave up a portion of their secret. Yet they did not give it up entirely. M. Mesnard was only able to ascertain that the fine oil which gives the perfume is apparently dorived in every case from chlorophyll, and is usually located at the upper surfaces of the petals or sepals in delicato cellules. There seems to be some inverse relation between the amount of pigment, or coloring matter, in the flower and the perfume. Some of the more soberlycolored flowers have the most delightful fragrance, while brilliant hues do not imply a corresponding sweetness of smell. The fact that the perfume oils are derived from chlorophyll is interesting because, as will be remembered, cloropbyll is that substance in plants which, when acted upon by sunlignt, turns a leaf into a sort of chemical laboratory. But it connot act without the sunbeams. We know how much we owe to the sun as a source of all life and energy upon the earth, and yet It is not a little surprising to reflect that the great orb of day is directly instrumental in the production of the exquisite perfume with which a bouquet salutes our nostrils?— [Youth's Companion.