New life for old smell

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33664, 14 October 1974, Page 6

New life for old smell

Musk, the scent that became scarce because of the thoughtless slaughter of the musk deer, is being revived, says Patricia Cummins, publicity officer for a cosmetic company.

| From the few remaining phials of the precious musk oil, all that was left when the musk deer became almost extinct, chemists have been able to analyse the natural compounds and match them with a synthesised compound. Musk was very popular during the Victorian era, but its beginnings as a perfume originated in the Orient. It was the perfume of the purdahs of India and Persia, and the Greeks also used it to anoint their bodies. It was the Greeks who gave it the name “moskhos.” The beginnings of the real musk are in no way romantic. It is an oily, waxy substance taken from the glands

iof the musk deer. It was [also used as a fixative. ! The little deer roamed freely on the highlands of Siberia, Korea, and China; but over the centuries it was thoughtlessly slaughtered until, by the beginning of the twentieth century, it almost extinct. Natural musk was no longer readily available, and the scent was almost lost. It was said, by a mysterious trick of Nature that the musk perfume had gone from the face of the earth. Even the musk rose was said to have lost its smell. Today, says Miss Cummins, the fragrance has been rediscovered, being popular with the modern girl who does not want to wear a sophisticated perfume.