WORLD SCENT TRADE

Evening Star, Issue 23882, 12 May 1941, Page 2

WORLD SCENT TRADE

A BRITISH OBJECTIVE Rare and new perfumes are being produced in the heart of bombed London for export as part of the Government’s plan to secure foreign currencj (savs the. ‘ Sunday Chronicle ’). They go overseas as perfume, and come back as a sniff of gunpowder foi the Nazis, as part of the British trade drive to corner the former French world market. . The man mainly responsible tor tins war-time exchange of smells is Mr \\ . A. Boucher, a leading research chemist in the British perfume industry. In his laboratory in Piccadilly, Mr Boucher conjures up all the perfumes or Arabia from castor oil, coal tar, whaleflosh. aiic3 other Queer raw materials. “ Yes. castor oil is very important,' Mr Boucher told me. “ especially as a basis for violet and jasmine. “ And when it’s orange blossom you want, you can’t do better than dabble with coal tar products. “ I am hoping for a quick victory in Abvssinia for a perfume reason among others,” he said. ‘ Abyssinia is the natural home of the civet cat, and. if von tickle the civet cat. it gives off a secretion which is the basis foi a treasured perfume. “ Like civet, musk perfume has also been scarce lately. Musk comes from the male mush deer, which is largely found in a part of China, now a battleground.”