Cumarine, the material to which
tonka bean, sweet woodruff, and new-mown hay owe their
characteristic odors, was synthetically prepared by W.H. Parkin
in 1868 by heating sodiosalicylic aldehyde with acetic anhydride,
though now more cheaply prepared from an herb growing in Florida.
Irone, which has the perfume of violets, was isolated in 1893
from a ketone contained in orris-root; and ionone, another ketone
which has a very closely similar odor of fresh violets and was
isolated after some years' further work, is largely used in the
preparation of violet perfume. Irone and ionone are closely
similar in composition to oil of turpentine which when taken into
the body is partly converted into perfume and gives a strong odor
of violets to the urine. "Little has yet been accomplished toward
ascertaining the relation between the odor and the chemical
constitution of substances in general. Hydrocarbons as a class
possess considerable similarity in odor, so also do the organic
sulphides and, to a much smaller extent, the ketones. The
subject waits for some one to correlate its various
physiological, psychological and physical aspects in the same way
that Helmholtz did for sound.
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