Ancient Herb

Perfumes in Ancient Egypt

1. Perfumes sources coming from plant extracts, but also from animal sources. However, animal sources are not so common today. For example, sperm whale, an inflammable substance, which is the base for amber, found in the digestive system of the cachalot, was a common animal extract used in perfumes. Other aromas are obtained from beavers or bees, while musk is obtained from the glandular secretions found in a gland of the male musk deer.
2. “Hungary Water” is the name of the first modern, alcohol-based perfume made in Hungary in 1370. Legends say that Queen Elisabeth of Hungary requested this type of product, and Hungarian monks created this perfume specially for her. For maximum effect, it is recommended both washing and consuming this essence.
3. Eau de Cologne, the most frequent product in the category of perfumes bought on large scale, has the lowest concentration of perfume of just 5%. As compared to eau de toilette that has a medium concentration of 10%, eau de parfum has 15%, while the biggest concentration is found in the perfume extract, 20% in general, but it can raise to 40% for the most exclusive products.
4. Avicenna, a famous Persian physician and philosopher, was the first to describe the distillation technique used to obtain essential oils from plants and flowers. Nowadays, distillation is the most used method for extracting aromatic oils in flowers.
5. The first chemist is considered to be a woman. Her name was Tapputi, a perfume maker, who was mentioned in a cuneiform writing in Mesopotamia.