Elixir: A Parisian Perfume House and the Quest for the Secret of Life 9780674293083

Table of contents :
Contents
Prologue: A New Philosopher’s Stone
1 The Store of Provence in Paris
2 The Essence of Life
3 Revolution
4 The Miracle Waters of Cologne
5 The Problem of Vegetation
6 A Temple of Industry
7 Lost Illusions
8 Radicals and Bohemians
9 The Spirit of Coal Tar
10 The Study of Things That Do Not Exist
11 The Synthetic Age
12 Life Is Asymmetric
Cast of Characters
Notes
Acknowledgments
Illustration Credits
Index

Citation preview

Elixir

Elixir A Pa­ri­sian Perfume House and the Quest for the Secret of Life

Theresa Levitt

Cambridge, Mas­s a­c hu­s etts ​2023

Copyright © 2023 by Theresa Levitt Published in the United Kingdom as Elixir: A Story of Perfume, Science and the Search for the Secret of Life by Basic Books, an imprint of Hachette Book Group, London All rights reserved Printed in the United States of Amer­i­ca First printing Cover image: Aurore de la Morinerie Cover design: Gabriele Wilson 9780674293076 (EPUB) 9780674293083 (PDF) The Library of Congress has cataloged the printed edition as follows: Names: Levitt, Theresa, author. Title: Elixir : A Pa­ri­sian perfume ­house and the quest for the secret of life / Theresa Levitt. Description: Cambridge, Mas­sa­chu­setts : Harvard University Press, 2023. | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2022031709 | ISBN 9780674250895 (cloth) Subjects: LCSH: Laugier, Edouard. | Laurent, Auguste, 1807–1853. | Perfumes—­France—­History. | Chemistry—­France—­History. | Asymmetry (Chemistry)—­History. | Elixir of life. Classification: LCC TP983 .L475 2023 | DDC 668/.540944—­dc23/eng/20220808 LC rec­ord available at https://­lccn​.­loc​.­gov​/­2022031709

Contents



Prologue: A New Phi­los­o­pher’s Stone  1

1

The Store of Provence in Paris  5

2

The Essence of Life  18

3

Revolution 41

4

The Miracle ­Waters of Cologne  60

5

The Prob­lem of Vegetation  78

6

A ­Temple of Industry  91

7

Lost Illusions  111

8

Radicals and Bohemians  137

9

The Spirit of Coal Tar  157

10

The Study of ­Things That Do Not Exist  176

11

The Synthetic Age  193

12

Life Is Asymmetric  216 cast of characters  237 notes 241 acknowl­edgments  295 illustration credits  297 index 299

Prologue A New Phi­los­o­pher’s Stone

Paris, rue Bourg-­l’Abbé, 1835

Édouard Laugier had distilled the essence of ­bitter almonds many times before. Although the seeds ­were ­bitter and poisonous to eat, the fragrance was soft and pleasant, making it a staple at his f­ amily’s perfume ­house of Laugier Père et Fils. Édouard lived with his ­family above the shop in the center of Paris, their bedrooms and offices taking up the entire second floor. Above them on the third floor ­were rooms with massive cauldrons and cooling pans for making soap. Below them, on the ground floor, their shop spread over the length of two facades, its floors and mezzanine outfitted with mahogany c­ ounters stacked with ceramic pots and glass-­fronted armoires displaying b­ ottles and vials. A hallway led to another set of rooms, lit by win­dows to an inner courtyard, and off-­limits to the public: the kitchen, dining room, and a laboratory for preparing perfume materials. It was in this last room that Édouard found himself now, on a late summer’s day in 1835, readying the pressed almond cakes for distillation. This batch, however, was not destined for the store ’s shelves but for his own investigations into the chemistry of life. He had not always wanted to follow the ­family business. He had left home at nineteen, crossing the Seine to the Left Bank of Paris, where he set up a laboratory in the shadow of the Sorbonne and tried to join the ranks of the academic chemists. It proved a tough scene to break into. The positions ­were all controlled by the followers of Antoine Lavoisier,

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P ro lo g u e

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T he Sto r e o f P rov ence i n Pa ri s

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T he Sto r e o f P rov ence i n Pa ri s

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  The Fragrant Hillsides of Grasse 


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T he Sto r e o f P rov ence i n Pa ri s

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T he Sto r e o f P rov ence i n Pa ri s

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  The Perfumed Court of Versailles 
T he Sto r e o f P rov ence i n Pa ri s

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figure 5. ​An example of

men participating in the toilette. The cloth, likely scented, is vis­i­ble on the right, with pomades, brushes, and more arranged upon it.


T he Sto r e o f P rov ence i n Pa ri s

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T he Es s e nc e o f Li f e

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T he Es s e nc e o f Li f e

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  Perfume as Medicine  T he Es s e nc e o f Li f e

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T he Es s e nc e o f Li f e

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  The Philosophical Spirit  < Paris, 1760s

The arts of perfumery and distilling ­were both born from alchemy, a practice so secretive its followers communicated in a code impenetrable to the uninitiated. But Blaise Laugier had arrived in Paris at a moment when every­thing was changing. The spirit of the Enlightenment sought to shine light in the dark corners of h­ uman knowledge and make public ­every secret hidden away. Diderot had just begun to publish the first volumes of the Encyclopédie and, in common cause, two fellow Pa­ri­sians, Antoine Baumé and Pierre-­Joseph Macquer, had teamed up to teach a

> T he Es s e nc e o f Li f e

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T he Es s e nc e o f Li f e

figure 8. ​A ­woman selling brandy on the streets of

Paris, 1737. The caption has her calling out “La vie! La vie!,” or “Life! Life!”

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T he Es s e nc e o f Li f e

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figure 9. ​Antoine Baumé’s still from his textbook, Elémens de pharmacie théorique et pratique.




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T he Es s e nc e o f Li f e

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T he Es s e nc e o f Li f e

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R e vo l u t io n

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R e vo l u t io n

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R e vo l u t io n

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R e vo l u t io n

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R e vo l u t io n

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R e vo l u t io n

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R e vo l u t io n

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R e vo l u t io n

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R e vo l u t io n

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T he M ir ac l e W aters o f C o lo g ne

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T he M ir ac l e W aters o f C o lo g ne

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T he M ir ac l e W aters o f C o lo g ne

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T he M ir ac l e W aters o f C o lo g ne

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T he M ir ac l e W aters o f C o lo g ne

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T he P ro b l e m o f Veg etati o n

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T he P ro b l e m o f Veg etati o n

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T he P ro b l e m o f Veg etati o n

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T he P ro b l e m o f Veg etati o n

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T he P ro b l e m o f Veg etati o n

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A T e m p l e o f I ndustry

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A T e m p l e o f I ndustry

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A T e m p l e o f I ndustry

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A T e m p l e o f I ndustry

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A T e m p l e o f I ndustry

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A T e m p l e o f I ndustry

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Lo st I l l u s io ns

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Lo st I l l u s io ns

figure 21. ​Joseph-­Louis Gay-­Lussac (left) and

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Jean-­Baptiste Biot (right) in their 1804 balloon ascent. They ­rose 4,000 meters to conduct the first scientific experiments at ­these altitudes.




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Lo st I l l u s io ns

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R a d ic a l s a n d B o h emi a ns

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figure 25. ​Édouard Laugier’s distilling apparatus. It consisted of a boiler (A), a second boiler or exhauster (A’), a dephlegmator (B), and a condenser (C). The reservoir (D) contained the fermented must (typically wine for Laugier). The liquid went into the funnel (E), eventually making its way through tube F into the first boiler (A) and, if the valve (R) was open, into the second boiler (A’). As the boilers evaporated the liquid, the vapor would rise through the tubes T and G into the dephlegmator. ­There, the delicate separation took place as the vapor ­rose through seven helical sections. The watery part (or phlegm) condensed out and ran back into the boilers through tube H. The purer distillate, meanwhile, continued its rise and then passed into the serpentine condenser (C), eventually emerging in liquid form from the spigot (N).


R a d ic a l s a n d B o h emi a ns

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R a d ic a l s a n d B o h emi a ns

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T he S p ir it o f C oa l Ta r

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T he S p ir it o f C oa l Ta r

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T he S p ir it o f C oa l Ta r

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T he S p ir it o f C oa l Ta r

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T he St u dy o f T h i ng s T h at D o N ot E xi st

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T he St u dy o f T h i ng s T h at D o N ot E xi st

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T he St u dy o f T h i ng s T h at D o N ot E xi st

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T he St u dy o f T h i ng s T h at D o N ot E xi st

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T he St u dy o f T h i ng s T h at D o N ot E xi st

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T he St u dy o f T h i ng s T h at D o N ot E xi st

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T he St u dy o f T h i ng s T h at D o N ot E xi st

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figure 30. ​Eugène Roussel left Laugier Père et Fils to set up this perfumery in Philadelphia, where he pioneered the bottling of carbonated soft drinks.


T he St u dy o f T h i ng s T h at D o N ot E xi st

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T he S y nt he t ic Ag e

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figure 32. ​Eugène Rimmel’s perfume fountain at London’s 1851

Crystal Palace Exhibition. Visitors could dip their handkerchiefs in to pick up the scent.


T he S y nt he t ic Ag e

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L ife I s A sym m etri c

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L ife I s A sym m etri c

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  The Legacy  


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2 38 

Cast of Charact e rs

(1800–1884) ​A charming and savvy French chemist, director of the École Centrale des Arts et Manufactures, who turned his outsized ambitions to conquering the organic realm.

Jean-Baptiste Dumas

(1685–­1766) ​The original purveyor of Eau de Cologne, with a store across from Jülichs Platz in Cologne, Germany.

Jean-­M arie Farina

(1755–­1864) ​A distant, perhaps false relation of Jean-­Marie Farina who arrived in Paris in 1808 and copyrighted the name “Farina” and other terms associated with Eau de Cologne.

Jean-­M arie-­J oseph Farina

(1755–­1809) ​Lavoisier’s closest collaborator, whose flair for public speaking made him the “apostle of the new chemistry.”

Antoine-­F rançois Fourcroy

(1816–­1856) ​A firebrand chemist from Alsace who worked in the labs of Justus Liebig and Jean-­Baptiste Dumas before persuading Auguste Laurent to join forces with him.

Charles Gerhardt

(1818–­1892) ​Justus Liebig’s assistant at Giessen who was handed an outsized opportunity as the inaugural director of the Royal College of Chemistry in London.

August Hofmann

(1770–1832) ​A pharmacist who worked with AntoineFrançois Fourcroy; no relation to the perfumers on rue Bourg-l’Abbé.

André Laugier

(1737–­1826) ​A perfumer from Grasse who set up shop on rue Bourg-­l’Abbé in Paris.

Blaise Laugier

(b. 1807) ​The son of Jean Laugier and Catherine Dufrayer who left the family’s perfume business to become a chemist.

Édouard Laugier

(1768–­1836) ​Blaise Laugier’s oldest son, who ran the Paris shop when he retired.

Jean Laugier

> Ca st o f C ha r acters

239

Marie-­J eanne (Feurer) Laugier  (d.

1800) ​Blaise Laugier’s wife. She had seven ­children: Jean, Louis, Madeleine, Antoine François, Alexis, Blaise Jr., and Auguste Victor. (1807–­1853) ​An artistic wine merchant’s son who left the ­career of a mining engineer to study chemistry, a theoretician and revolutionary who was frustrated in his ambitions by the distrust and animosity of Justus Liebig and Jean-­Baptiste Dumas.

Auguste Laurent

(1743–­1794) ​A fabulously wealthy tax collector who led the chemical revolution, overturning centuries of knowledge.

Antoine Lavoisier

(1803–­1873) ​A brilliant but highly volatile chemist who ran a laboratory of practical chemistry in Giessen.

Justus Liebig

(1718–­1784) ​An Enlightenment chemist who gave the theoretical component of the public lectures with Baumé, laying out a theory of aroma as the esprit recteur, or guiding spirit.

Pierre Macquer

(1819–­1855) ​August Hofmann’s student, who hoped to make a fortune in the perfume business.

Charles Blachford Mansfield

(1822–­1895) ​A student working in a chemistry lab at the École Normale who grew curious about Auguste Laurent’s strange experiments with crystals. He went on to be one of the most prominent scientists of France, credited with saving millions of lives.

Louis Pasteur

(1838–­1907) ​An entrepreneurial teenaged assistant of August Hofmann at the Royal College of Chemistry in London who developed mauveine, the first commercial synthetic dye.

William Henry Perkin

(1780–­1840) ​An assistant to Nicolas-­Louis Vauquelin who grew obsessed with the relation between cyanide ’s deadly effects and its pleasant aroma.

Pierre-­J ean Robiquet

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24 0 

Cast of Charact e rs

(1810–­1878) ​Successor of Édouard Laugier and Auguste Laurent at Laugier Père et Fils who ­later emigrated to Philadelphia, where he became wildly successful in the new flavored soft drink business.

Eugène Roussel

(1777–­1857) ​A student of Antoine-­François Fourcroy and Nicolas-­Louis Vauquelin who went on to hold nearly ­every available chair of chemistry in Paris.

Louis Jacques Thénard

Nicolas -Louis Vauquelin

(1763–1829) ​An assistant of AntoineFrançois Fourcroy who helped him define the field of pharmacy, and the mentor of Louis Jacques Thénard.

(1800–­1882) ​Liebig’s frequent collaborator, who sometimes encouraged and sometimes tempered his biting sarcasm.

Friedrich Wöhler

Notes

Prologue

1. J. Liebig and F. Wöhler, “Untersuchungen über das Radikal der Benzoesäure,” Annalen der Pharmacie 3, no. 3 (1832): 249–282. An 1834 translation by J. C. Booth is reprinted in O. T. Benfey, From Vital Force to Structural Formulas (Philadelphia: Beckman Center for the History of Chemistry, 1992), 15. 2. ­­Recipe is from Elisabeth Celnart, Nouveau manuel complet du parfumeur (Paris: Roret, 1854), 185–186. The phrase “virtues of plants” is from César Gardeton, Dictionnaire de la beauté (Paris: Chez L. Cordier, 1826), 130. 3. Auguste Laurent, “Sur le benzoyle et la benzimide,” Annales de chimie et de physique [2] 59 (1835): 403. What Laugier and Laurent had isolated was in fact benzil, the dimer of benzoyl, which had the empirical formula as the benzoyl radical but with double the number of atoms. 4. Louis-­Bernard Guyton de Morveau, Antoine-­Laurent de Lavoisier, Claude-­ Louis Berthollet, and Antoine Fourcroy, Méthode de nomenclature chimique (Paris: Chez Cuchet, 1787), 72. 1. The Store of Provence in Paris

1. “no foreign nose can abide,” Louis-­Sébastien Mercier, Pa­norama of Paris: Se­lections from Tableau de Paris, ed. Jeremy Popkin (University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1999), 41; “dirty stinking streets,” J.-­J. Rousseau, Les confessions, book 4 (Paris: Seuil, 1967), 181; “shadow and stench,” Andrew Hussey, Paris: The Secret History (New York: Viking, 2006), 168.

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Il lust rat ion Cred its

Figure 16. New York Public Libraries  85 Figure 17. La Nature, 1880  93 Figure 18. Courtesy of the Thénard ­family archive  97 Figure 19. Magasin Pittoresque, 1850  109 Figure 20. National Library of Medicine  116 Figure 21. John Howard Appleton, Beginners’ Hand-­Book of Chemistry (New York: Chautaugua Press, 1888)  121 Figure 22. Louis Figuier, Les Merveilles de la science, vol. 4 (Paris: Furne, Jouvet et Cie, Éditeurs, 1870)  131 Figure 23. René Just Haüy, Traité de minéralogie (Paris: Chez Louis, 1801)  133 Figure 24. Bibliothèque nationale, Paris, France / Bridgeman Images  142 Figure 25. Nicolas Basses, Guide théorique et pratique du fabricant d’alcools et du distillateur (Paris: Librairie du Dictionnaire des Arts et Manufactures, 1893)  144 Figure 26. Wellcome Collection  169 Figure 27. Wellcome Collection  172 Figure 28. Marc Tiffeneau, Correspondance de Charles Gerhardt (Paris: Masson et Cie, Éditeurs, 1918)  187 Figure 29. Marc Tiffeneau, Correspondance de Charles Gerhardt (Paris: Masson et Cie, Éditeurs, 1918)  188 Figure 30. Historical Society of Pennsylvania  190 Figure 31. Chronicle of World History / Alamy Stock Photo  197 Figure 32. Science History Images Alamy Stock Photo  206 Figure 33. Auguste Laurent, Méthode de chimie (Paris: Mallet-­ Bachelier, 1854)  229

Index

Page numbers in italics refer to illustrations. abbey of Saint-­Martin-­des-­Champs, 8, 91. See also rue Bourg-­l’Abbé absolutism, 14 Acad­emy of Sciences, 32, 78, 118; Biot and, 125, 127; Dumas and, 118–119, 127, 209; Laurent and, 182, 183–184; meteorite and, 79; paquet cachet, 178; Pasteur and, 226 acetic acid, 36 acetyl salicylic acid, 232 acide chlorophénisique, 152 acids, 88, 147 advertising, 94, 113, 179, 191–192 agriculture, 162 air: health and, 22 (see also miasmas); in Lavoisier’s system, 35; mephitic, 22, 27, 28; purifying, 25 Albert (prince), 176, 177, 204, 207 alchemy, 3, 20, 21, 26, 170; crystals and, 133; ­ atter, distillation and, 19–20; First M 151; goals of, 18; phi­los­o­pher’s stone, 27, 33, 151; sense of smell and, 233; terminology of, 36 alcohol, 19–20, 165; in Lavoisier’s system, 36–37; medicines and, 23–24; retention of aromas by, 23; smuggling of, 35. See also distilling

Alderotti, Taddeo, 19 alembics, 19, 27, 28, 142–143 alkalis, 46, 50, 88; from barilla, 56; wine production and, 57–58 alkaloids, 88–90, 99, 170, 174; artificial, 171, 172, 175 almonds, ­bitter, 81–83; coal tar and, 152; essential oil of, 2, 145, 147, 150, 177, 179 (see also Mirbane, Essence of ); fragrance of, 1; Édouard Laugier and, 151–152; Laurent and, 139, 140, 150–152; Liebig and, 147–148; polarization and, 127; Robiquet and, 145–146; stilbene, 166; Wöhler and, 147–148 almond scent, artificial, 207 ambergris, 105 ambix, 19 amino acids, 234–235 Ampère ’s Law, 225 amygdalin, 145–146, 147 amyl acetate, 207 anemia, 222 aniline, 170, 171–172, 175, 177, 216, 217, 218 anise, essential oil of, 129–130 anise concrete, 130 Annalen (journal), 162–163, 182, 185

>

300 

Annalen der chemie und pharmacie (journal), 167 Annalen der Pharmacie, 148–149 Annales de chimie (journal), 117, 159, 166–167, 182, 185 apothecaries, 23–26, 24; active princi­ples of plants and, 77; alcohol and, 23; Baumé, 26–30; Fourcroy’s reforms and, 65–67; miracle ­waters, 70–71; perfume and, 25–26. See also medicines; pharmacists apprenticeships, abolition of, 65 aqua angeli, 15 aqua ardens, 19, 20, 21, 36 aqua de regina, 11 aqua fortis, 36 aqua mirabilis, 70. See also eau de cologne aqua regia, 36 aqua vitae, 21 Arago, François, 120, 122, 184 Aristotelian system, 20, 78 Aristotle, 3, 21, 27, 35–36 Arnold of Villanova, 21 aroma. See fragrance; perfume; smells aromatics, 216. See also fragrance; smells arrangement / organ­ization of molecules, 127, 134, 201, 224; guiding spirit and, 233–234; Kekulé and, 229; Liebig and, 160–163; Pasteur and, 200, 233; polarized light and, 228–229; study of, 128–129; Tinkertoy approach, 229–230; van ’t Hoff and, 229–231. See also asymmetry; Biot, Jean-­Baptiste; Laurent, Auguste ashes, 46, 49, 50, 55, 57, 88. See also alkalis aspirin, 232 asymmetry, 201, 223, 233–235; of natu­ral products, 203; optical activity and, 230; Pasteur and, 223–227; polarized light and, 224–225. See also arrangement /  organ­ization of molecules; chirality; mirror-­images

In d ex  
Index

c­ areer of, 120, 122; at Collège de France, 209; Dumas and, 127–129, 134; fraxinella and, 119–120; Laplace and, 125; Laurent and, 175, 209–212, 227–228; light and, 122–125; meteorite and, 79–80; in Nointel, 119, 125–126; Pasteur and, 202–203, 226; polarization of light and, 126–128; positions held by, 95; smell and, 174; tartaric acid and, 201; tartrates and, 200; Traité de physique, 98; turpentine and, 123; work with essential oils, 224. See also arrangement / organ­ization of molecules Black Death, 23 Blanqui, Auguste, 194, 196 blood, 62 Bonaparte, Louis-­Napoleon (Napoleon III), 209, 213, 214, 218 Bonaparte, Napoleon. See Napoleon Bonaparte Bouchardat, Apollinaire, 174–175 Boyle, Robert, 22 brandy (eau-­de-­vie), 28, 29, 30, 33–35, 63, 69 brevets d’invention. See patents Brongniart, Adolphe, 108, 110 Brongniart, Alexandre, 108–109, 130, 135, 136, 161 Brongniart, Antoine-­Louis, 66 Bulletin universel des sciences et de l’industrie (journal), 99 caffeine, 89, 90, 99, 170 Cahours, Auguste, 161, 173 Cambacérès, Jean-­Jacques Régis de, 63–64 camphor, 25, 115–118, 119, 124, 127–128, 129–130, 132 Canard, Élisabeth (Madame Celnart), 104–107, 208

301  




302 

chemistry, new, 1–2, 35–36, 88; bases in, 88; confined to mineral realm, 61; cyanide and, 82–83; Fourcroy and, 48, 60; living ­things and, 77, 80–81; meteorites and, 78–79; nomenclature in, 36, 47; pharmacy and, 66. See also Lavoisier, Antoine chemistry, organic, 127. See also living ­things Chemistry in Space (van ’t Hoff ), 230 chemists, academic, 1–2, 95 Chéradame, Jean-­Pierre-­René, 66 chirality, 231–232, 234–235. See also asymmetry chiral molecules, 231–232 cholera, 114–118, 116, 129 Church of Saint-­Simonianism, 138, 193, 196 cinchona, 170, 171 cinchonicine, 223 cinchonine, 171, 174, 175 cinnabar, 32 cinnamon, 26 citrus fruit, 70 Clément, Nicolas, 92, 94 clothing, 15, 44, 150 cloves, 11, 25, 26 coal, 129, 130, 165. See also coal gas; coal tar; naphthalene coal gas, 131, 132 coal tar, 131, 132; alkaloids produced from, 171, 175; benzene and, 152, 177–179; ­bitter almonds and, 152; Hofmann and, 169–170, 216; Laurent and, 164–165; perfume from, 221–222 coal tar, spirit of, 165, 170, 181. See also phenol codeine, 89 Codex, 67 coffee, 170 coke, 131

In d ex  
Index

cyanide, 82–83, 145, 179. See also almonds, ­bitter cyanure, 82 d’Albret, Jeanne, 14 Dalton, John, 155 d’Arcet, Jean, 196 David, Jacques-­Louis, 49, 52 Davy, Humphry, 102 de Laire, Georges, 220 Delalande, Z., 161 de Launay, Marquis, 38, 39 de Medici, Catherine, 9, 11, 14 Democritus, 155 denaturation, 214 denim, 166 dephlegmator, 142, 143 de Quincy, Thomas, 84 Derosne, Charles, 94 Derosne, Jean-­François, 86, 89, 94 Despretz, César, 156 dextrin, 127 Dickens, Charles, 63 Dictionary of Chemistry (Macquer), 32 Diderot, Denis, 26, 102, 139 disease: air and, 22 (see also miasmas); cholera, 114–118, 129; plague, 23, 25; smells blamed for, 17 disenfranchisement, 193 distilling, 11; alembics, 19, 27, 28, 142–143; Clément and, 94; destructive, 131; guides for, 23–24; guild, 25; language of, 36; Édouard Laugier and, 141, 142–144; learning techniques of, 26–30; by monks, 23; princi­ple of, 18–22; spirit separated from phlegm in, 27, 142–143; stills, 94, 95 DNA, 233–234 doctors, 43, 48, 60 drugs. See medicines Dufrayer, Catherine, 156

303  




304 

École Centrale des Arts et Manufactures, 108–110, 109, 115, 134 École Polytechnique, 213 education: École Centrale des Arts et Manufactures, 108–110, 115, 134; Fourcroy’s system of, 65–66; for industrial class, 107–110, 115; Lycée commercial et industriel, 107, 110; Schools of Pharmacy, 66. See also medical schools electrochemical theory, 135, 140 electromagnetic theory of light, 231 enantiomeric cross-­inhibition, 234 enantiomers, 232–233, 235 Encyclopédie (Diderot), 26, 102, 139 Encyclopédie nouvelle, 139 enfleurage, 11–12 enfleurage à froid, 12–13 ­England: fashion and, 100; France’s rivalry with, 102; ­Great Exhibition of 1851, 204–208; Hofmann in, 177, 178, 203–208, 217; Laugier Père et Fils’s rivalry with, 100–101; Royal College of Chemistry, 176–178, 203, 217 Enlightenment: meteorites and, 78; sense of smell and, 233 enzymes, 146 épreuve (proof ), 34 equality, technology and, 138, 193 esprit (spirit), 27 esprit ardent, 28, 36 esprit de vin, 30, 34; distilling apparatus for, 142; hygiene and, 42; taxes and, 33–35 esprit recteur, 22, 27, 28, 36, 53, 83, 174, 233–234; distilling apparatus for, 142; fraxinella and, 119 esprits ardens, 27 essential oils, 62; Dumas’s work with, 129–130; Laurent’s work with, 129–130;

In d ex  
Index

Fourcroy, Antoine-­François, 36, 47–48, 60, 122; at Acad­emy of Sciences, 78; on bases, 88; on Council of State, 64–68; educational system and, 65–66; during French Revolution, 57, 59; gunpowder and, 50; mea­sure­ments and, 55; meteorites and, 80; on opium, 84; on “prob­lem of vegetation,” 81; prussic acid and, 82; Séguin and, 86; on vinegar, 63 fragrance, 4, 63; alcohol’s retention of, 23; chemistry of, 216; diffusion of, 15; enantiomers and, 233; guiding spirit of, 3–4 (see also spiritus rector); synthetic, 205, 207–208, 216, 233; vitality and, 22. See also perfume; smells France: co­ali­tion against, 45; economy of, 45; as republic, 196; vote in, 193, 209 fraud, 74, 189 fraxinella, 28, 119–120 Freie Stunden am Fenster (Hauff), 100 French East India Com­pany, 9 French Revolution, 37–40, 41–59; Committee of Public Safety, 49, 50, 51, 54, 56, 57, 58, 59, 86; executions, 57, 59; Festival of Unity, 52; gunpowder and, 46–47, 49, 50, 55, 56, 57–58, 59; hoarding and, 54; hygiene and, 42–46, 54; Blaise Laugier during, 51–52, 54; Lavoisier during, 39, 46–47, 54–55, 57; regeneration theme of, 52–53; Robes­pierre, 42, 50, 51, 52, 56, 57, 58–60; royal ­f amily and, 42–43; shortages during, 49, 50–51; soap during, 44–46, 49–51, 55; Terror, 51, 57, 59; ­women during, 44–45, 50 Fresnel, Augustin, 125 Gacon-­Dufour, Marie Armande Jeanne D’Humières, 106 Galimard, Jean, 10 gas lighting, 131, 164




306 

Haussmann, Georges-­Eugène, 213, 214 Haüy, René Just, 133–134, 135, 153, 224 health: air and, 22 (see also miasmas); baths and, 95; cosmetics and, 32; smells and, 17, 22–26. See also cholera health care, 43 Health Committee (Comité de Salubrité), 43 heliotrope, 220 heliotropin, 220 hemihedral asymmetry, 201, 224 hoarding, 42–43, 51, 52, 54, 91 Hofmann, August, 168–170, 169, 175, 181, 216; ambition of, 176; aniline and, 177; in ­England, 177, 178, 203–208, 217; G ­ reat Exhibition of 1851 and, 204, 207–208; Laurent and, 170, 176, 210; synthetic scents and, 216; at University of Berlin, 219–220 Holy Innocents Cemetery, 6–7, 28, 81 homochirality, 234, 235 hoods, ventilating, 168 Hôtel-­Dieu, 174, 175 Houbigant (perfume ­house), 73, 220 Houbigant, Jean-­François, 8 Hugo, Victor, 138, 194, 195 ­human body: chemicals and, 231–233; smells and, 83 Humboldt, Alexander von, 98 hydrochloric acid, 132 hydrofluoric acid, 136 hydrogen, 36, 153 hydrogen chloride, 109 hydrometer, 34 hygiene, 65; Balzac on, 113; cholera and, 114; French Revolution and, 42–46, 54; in Paris, 213–214; vinegar and, 42, 54. See also bathing; toilette Hysteria chemicorum, 160

In d ex  
Index

kohl, 20 Kolbe, Hermann, 230 Kramer, Anton de, 98, 99, 181 kyanol, 169 Labarraque, Antoine, 101 labels, counterfeit, 189 ­labor, for perfume, 11–14 Ladies Manual, The (Celnart), 105 L’Aigle, 78, 79–80 Lamarck, Jean Baptiste, 227 Laplace, Pierre-­Simon de, 79, 122, 124, 125 laudanum, 84 Laugier, Alexis Louis, 94 Laugier, André, 66, 118, 140 Laugier, Antoine-­François, 77, 94 Laugier, Blaise, 4, 5, 8–9, 25, 26, 44, 67; apothecaries and, 66–67; ­children of, 51; clientele of, 51; Eau Régénératrice, 53–54, 67; during French Revolution, 51–52, 54; retirement of, 76; rouge sold by, 32; starch factory, 34–35; taxes and, 34–35. See also Laugier Père et Fils Laugier, Édouard, 4, 72, 92, 94, 96, 193; background of, 1–2; benzoyl radical and, 149; Biot and, 127; ­bitter almonds and, 140, 151–152; Celnart and, 105–107; distillation and, 141; excluded from Dumas’s plan, 158; Exhibition of Industry and, 141–142; financial situation of, 181; laboratory of, 1, 2, 112–113; ­later life, 213, 215; Laugier Père et Fils and, 110, 156; Laurent and, 138; on Left Bank, 95, 96, 138; Lycée commercial et industriel and, 107, 110; nomenclature of, 99; orangefl­ ower ­water and, 101–102; soap and, 100–101; as student of Thénard, 98–99; Synoptic ­Tables or a Summary of Chemical Characteristics of Salifiable Bases, 99; Technological Dictionary and, 102–103, 106

30 7  




308 

Laurent, Auguste (continued ) Encyclopédie nouvelle and, 139; Faculty of Sciences and, 155–156; financial situation of, 156, 157, 159, 183, 186, 187, 211; Gerhardt and, 180, 185–186, 210; health of, 208, 210–211, 212; Hofmann and, 170, 176, 210; isolation of, 164, 167, 168, 176, 181, 210, 211, 229; Édouard Laugier and, 138; Laugier Père et Fils and, 143, 145, 149–150, 156; on Left Bank, 137–140; Liebig and, 135, 156, 167, 168, 181, 185–186; in Luxembourg, 159, 163; Method of Chemistry, 227–228, 229; naphthalene and, 132, 134, 135, 139, 140, 153, 164–165; optical activity of crystals and, 200; painting by, 171, 172; at Paris Mint, 196, 209, 211; Pasteur and, 199, 210, 222; phène and, 152; reception of, 167–168; reputation of, 180, 181; Reynaud and, 138; in Sèvres, 135–136; son of, 168, 171, 183, 211, 212, 213; teaching by, 138; theoretical scheme of, 165–167 (see also arrangement / organ­ization of molecules); vindication of, 230–231; wife of, 163, 168, 171, 211, 212 Lavallée, Alphonse, 108 lavender, 11, 23, 28 Lavoisier, Antoine, 1–2, 60, 61, 133, 157; alcohol and, 36–37; analy­sis of rouge, 32; background of, 32; benzoic acid, 146; Chaptal and, 63, 222; fermentation and, 37, 222; during French Revolution, 46–47, 54–55, 57; gunpowder and, 33, 37–40, 46–47; living ­things and, 80–81; Marat and, 48; mea­sure­ments and, 55; meteorites and, 78–79; radicals and, 147; Séguin and, 38, 86; spiritus rector and, 233; tax collecting and, 32–33, 38, 55; theory of acids, 147; wealth of, 33; wife of, 33. See also chemistry, new

In d ex  
Index

Louis XIV (king of France), 14, 15, 204, 205 Louis XV (king of France), 15 Louis XVI (king of France), 30 Lycée commercial et industriel, 107, 110 machines, 92, 93 Macquer, Pierre-­Joseph, 26, 27, 35, 36, 37, 47; Dictionary of Chemistry, 32 Maille, Antoine (­father), 25 Maille, Antoine-­Claude (son), 54 Maisonneuve, Jules, 175 Malade imaginaire (Molière), 84 Malus, Étienne-­Louis, 122–123 Mansfield, Charles Blachford, 177–178, 179, 207, 216–217 Manual of the Perfumer (Celnart), 208 Marat, Jean-­Paul, 48–49 Maria the Jewess, 18 Marie Antoinette (queen of France), 30, 32, 42–43, 150 marketing, 94, 113, 179, 191–192, 205 marques de fabriques (trademarks), 73–75 Marseille, soap made in, 50 Marx, Karl, 214 mauve, 218 mea­sure­ments, 55, 59, 133 medical schools, 43, 60, 138 medicines: alcohol and, 23–24; artificial, 232; vs. perfume, 67, 77, 214; smells and, 23; vinegar and, 24–25. See also apothecaries; pharmacists; individual medicines mephitic air, 22, 27, 28 Mercier, Louis-­Sebastien, 5, 28 mercury, 21, 35, 36. See also cinnabar meteorites, 78–80, 235 methanol, 165, 214 Method of Chemistry (Laurent), 227–228 methyl alcohol, 165 methylène, 165 methyl salicylate, 173

309  




310 

naphtha, 216 naphthalene, 130–132, 166; Laurent and, 132, 134, 135, 139, 140, 153, 164–165 Napoleon Bonaparte: baths and, 68, 69; Cologne and, 72; dislike of bad odors, 68–69; Eau de Cologne used by, 72, 73; Exhibition of Industry and, 141; as First Consul, 64–65; Laugier Père et Fils and, 76; perfume and, 68, 70; Séguin and, 86, 87; war with Spain, 120. See also Council of State Napoleonic Wars, 76 Napoleon III (Louis-­Napoleon), 209, 213, 214, 218 narcotine / noscapine, 89 National Assembly, 37, 42 National Conservatory of Arts and Crafts, 91–94 National Convention, 44, 45, 53, 57, 59 National Guard, 197 nature. See living ­things Necker, Jacques, 34 Newton, Isaac, 122 New Universal Dictionary of Arts and Crafts, The (Technological Dictionary), 102–103, 106 nicotine, 90, 99, 170, 171, 175 nitrobenzene, 177–178, 205, 207, 216 nitrobenzol, 221 nitrogen, 162 Nobel Prize, 231 nomenclature: for atoms, 181; Laugier’s, 99; living ­things and, 80–81; for molecules, 181; morphine in, 88; in new chemistry, 36, 47 noscapine / narcotine, 89 Nostradamus, 146 “Note on the Current State of Organic Chemistry” (Dumas and Liebig), 157–158

In d ex  
Index

Paris Exposition (1855), 216 Paris Mint, 196, 209, 211 Parquet, Paul, 220 pastes, 14–15 Pasteur, Louis, 185, 187, 197–203, 230, 234; accomplishments of, 227; arrangement of molecules and, 200, 233; asymmetry and, 223–227, 231; “On the Asymmetry of Naturally Occurring Compounds,” 223–227; Biot and, 202–203, 226; ­career of, 222; crystals and, 199, 200, 201–203; Dumas and, 202–203, 210, 225–226; fermentation and, 222–224; Laurent and, 199, 210, 222; ­theses of, 199–200 pâte d’amandes, 150 patents, 76–77, 178, 179. See also trademarks Paulze, Marie-­Anne, 33 Payen, Anselme, 99 Pears, Andrew, 100 Peligot, Eugène, 161 Pelletier, Pierre-­Joseph, 89, 101 Pelouze, Théophile-­Jules, 145, 146 160, 161, 178, 179, 209, 220 peppermint, 11, 129–130 peppermint concrete, 130 perfume: artificial, 179, 219–222, 233; fashion and, 150; imported, 9; ­labor for, 11–14; vs. medicine, 67, 77, 214; men and, 221; middle-­class market, 9; Versailles and, 14–17, 30, 32, 205. See also fragrance; smells perfume fountains, 205 Perfumery (Morfit), 107 perfuming: control over, 25; during French Revolution, 54; in Grasse, 9–14, 25; in Paris, 5, 25; patent system and, 76–77; in south of France, 8 Perkin, William Henry, 217, 219 Persoz, Jean-­François, 126–127

311  




312 

Punch (magazine), 221 purple, 217–218 putrefaction, 22 quartz, 123, 127, 201 Queen of Hungary ­water, 23–24, 26, 67 Quesneville, Gustav-­Augustin, 173, 180, 182, 208 quinine, 89, 90, 117, 170, 171, 175, 217 racemic acid, 200, 201 radical, benzoyl, 2, 3, 4, 147–148, 149, 151, 153 radical, fundamental, 154 radicals, 158; benzoyl radical, 2, 3, 4, 147–148, 149, 151, 153; Dumas and, 162; Lavoisier and, 147 rectification, 143 Reflections on the Motive Power of Fire (Carnot), 92 reforms, Fourcroy’s, 65–68 regeneration, 52–54 regnum lapideum, 130 remedies, secret: crackdown on, 74–75, 76–77; demand for, 67–68. See also apothecaries Renaud, Henri, 156, 189 répétiteurs, 96 resinoid, 3 resins, 62 revolution (1848), 194–196, 195, 197–198, 213 Revolutionary Republican ­Women, 45 Revue scientifique (journal), 180, 182 Reynaud, Jean, 138–139, 193, 196 Rimmel, Eugène, 205, 206 Rise and Fall of Cesar Birotteau, The (Balzac), 113–114 RNA, 234 Robes­pierre, Maximilien, 42, 50, 51, 52, 56, 57, 58–60

In d ex  
Index

Seine, 5 serpentine, 19 Sertürner, Friedrich, 87–88, 89 Serullas, Georges, 118 Seven Years War, 33 Sèvres, 135–136 sewers, 213 Sichel-­Javal, Joseph, 189, 193 smell, sense of, 232–233 smells: cholera and, 114; effects upon ­human body, 83; health and, 22–26; of Paris, 5–7, 213–214; physical structure of molecule and, 174. See also fragrance; perfume smuggling, of distilled spirits, 35 soap, 100–101; almond, 150; barilla and, 55–56; Chaptal and, 59; during French Revolution, 49–51, 54; glycerin, 100; at ­Great Exhibition, 207; Laugier Père et Fils and, 100–101, 141–142; popularity of, 150; shortage of, 44–46, 55 socialists, radical, 138–139 social reform, calls for, 193–194 Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Crafts, and Useful Inventions, 30 soda, bottled, 191–192 soda ash, 46, 49, 50, 55, 56, 61, 88 soda ­water, 191–192 Sorbonne, 226 Spain: barilla from, 45–46; Biot in, 120; perfumes imported from, 9 spatial arrangement. See arrangement /  organ­ization of molecules spearmint, 174, 233 spirit, phlegm separated from, 27, 142–143 spirit of coal tar, 165, 170, 181. See also phenol spirit of wine (spiritus vini), 3, 22, 27. See also esprit de vin spirit of wood, 165, 173, 214

313  



314 

temperance, 191, 192 Terror, 51, 57, 59 Thalidomide, 232 Thénard, Louis Jacques, 88, 95–98, 154; artificial camphor and, 117; assistants /  students, 97–98, 107–108, 126 (see also Dumas, Jean-­Baptiste; Liebig, Justus); Exhibition of Industry and, 141; Laurent and, 156; retirement of, 209 Theoretical and Practical Ele­ments of Pharmacy (Baumé), 30 thyme, 11, 28 Tiemann, Ferdinand, 219, 220 Tinkertoy approach, 229–230 tobacco, 170, 171 toilette, 14–16; Balzac on, 113; Celnart on, 105; of Napoleon, 69; of Napoleon III, 214; rouge, 32. See also bathing; hygiene tonka beans, 219 trademarks, 73–75. See also patents Treatise on Elegance (Celnart), 105 tuberculosis (consumption), 208, 210, 212 tuberose, 12 turpentine, 117, 123, 128 type theory, 162, 167 undergarments, 15, 44 United States: French Revolution and, 46; market in, 100; perfumery in, 107; Roussel in, 188–192 Universal Exposition (1855), 216 Valin-­Ponsard, Antoine, 107 vanilla beans, 220 vanillin, 220 van ’t Hoff, Jacobus, 229–231 Vaucanson, Jacques de, 92

In d ex