I.

The[2] exquisite pleasure we enjoy from the smell of sweet flowers is[3] alone sufficient to account for the love of perfumery. Flowers pass away[4] so quickly that we naturally desire to preserve their sweetness[5] as[6] long as we can, and in this our perfumers succeed[7] admirably. The perfume[8] of most flowers depends upon an oil, which[9] is peculiar to the plant, almost every sweet-scented[10] plant having its own peculiar oil; and, what is of[11] more importance: these oils belong to a class called[12] essential or volatile, because they become[13] volatile when[14] heated.

[1] +Ueber Parfümerien.+

[2] Say ‘the great enjoyment which the smell (+Duft+, m.) of sweet (+wohlriechend+) flowers affords (+gewähren+) us’. Place the pron. ‘us’ immediately after the rel. pron.

[3] is — perfumery = explains sufficiently (+zur Genüge+) our love for perfumery.

[4] to pass away, +verwelken+.

[5] +Wohlgeruch+, m.

[6] as — can, +so lange wie möglich+. For the position of the verbs see App. § 19.

[7] to succeed, +gelingen+, v. intr. (used with +sein+), governs the dative of the person; as—

He succeeds admirably in this.

+Dies gelingt ihm vortrefflich.+

Construe the above clause accord. to the preceding example; perfumer, +Parfümeur+.

[8] ‘perfume’, here = scent, +Duft+, m.

[9] The relat. clause ‘which — plant’ is best rendered by the attributive construction, as explained in S. 48, N. 6; peculiar, +eigentümlich+.

[10] odorous, +wohlriechend+; its own particular oil, +ihr besonderes Öl+. The clause ‘almost — oil’ must be construed accord. to S. 30, N. 4.

[11] of — importance = still more important.

[12] Say ‘which one calls essential (+ätherisch+) or volatile (+flüchtig+) oils’.

[13] to become volatile, +sich verflüchtigen+.

[14] when heated = when they are heated (+erwärmen+). Comp. S. 27, N. 7.

_Section 71._

ON PERFUMERY.