The art of perfumery and the methods of obtaining the odours of plants : the growth and general flower farm system of raising fragrant herbs with instructions for the manufacture of perfumes for the handkerchief, scented powders, odorous vinegars and salts, snuff, dentifrices, cosmetics, perfumed soap, etc. :to which is added an appendix on preparing artificial fruit-essences, etc / by G.W. Septimus Piesse.

  • George William Septimus Piesse
Date:
1891
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The art of perfumery and the methods of obtaining the odours of plants : the growth and general flower farm system of raising fragrant herbs with instructions for the manufacture of perfumes for the handkerchief, scented powders, odorous vinegars and salts, snuff, dentifrices, cosmetics, perfumed soap, etc. :to which is added an appendix on preparing artificial fruit-essences, etc / by G.W. Septimus Piesse. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    of the richest myrrh, of cassia, of cinnamon, and of sweet calamus. The proportions of the mixture were 500 parts of the myrrh and cassia, and 250 each of the cinnamon and calamus. This ointment could not be applied to any other purpose (Exod. xxx. 20-33). The Septuagint names one of the ingredients, the myrrh, (r/iipvris iKKeKTijs, which corresponds with the myrrh, fjtvpov fiapvrifiov, of Matthew (xxvi. J), described as ro^v- TiK-fis by Mark (xiv. 3), and as roxlniiios by John (xii. 3). The ointment probably prepared for Lazarus, which his sister Mary poured on the head and body of our Lord, consisted therefore of one only of the four ingre- dients of the sacred oil in use in the first Temple. Judas reprehended this anointing, as practised at banquets, as an extravagant luxury. So Martial (III. xii. 4) says :— “ Qui non coenat et ungitur, Fabulle, Hie vere mihi mortuus videtur.” This view was corrected by our Lord, who says it was done prepara- tory to his entombment (Mark xiv. 8). Thus Jahn, in explaining the above passages in the Gospels, says ;—“ It was their custom to expend upon the dead aromatic substances, especially myrrh and aloes, which were brought from Arabia. This ceremony is expressed by the Greek verb ivTatpidCeiv [to embalm or entomb], and was performed by the neigh- bours and relations.” In the other case (Luke vii. 37) the myrrh was only applied to the feet of our Lord after washing, and previous to partaking of a meal—a common practice of antiquity, and once performed by our Lord himself to his disciples ; when, however, no mention is made of anointing, it being probably too costly for general use. At Sparta, the selling of per- fumed ointments was wholly prohibited ; and in Athens, men were not allowed to engage in it. Different ointments were used for different parts of the body.—Eschenburg, iii. s. 170. Gibbon ^ says ;— In a magnificent temple, raised on Palatine Mount, the sacrifices of the god Elagabalus (the sun) were celebrated, with every circumstance of cost and solemnity. The rarest aromatics were profusely consumed on his altar. Horace [Carminum, 3, 14), in an ode celebrating the return of Augustus from Spain, bids his slaves go and seek for perfumes, and desires the tuneful Neaera to make haste and collect into a knot her scented hair. These passages ^ Decline a7td Fall, vol. i. chap. vi. p. 234.