• picture
  • picture
  • picture
  • picture
Public Radio's Environmental News Magazine (follow us on Google News)

The Living on Earth Almanac

Air Date: Week of

This week, facts about...the history of perfume.

Transcript

CURWOOD: Spring is here, on the calendar at least, and as the wave of green surges north, the fragrances of flowers are not far behind. Now, for those who can't wait there's always the local perfumery. The modern art of perfuming dates to the days of the Queen of Sheba, when ancient Egyptians anointed their bodies with cinnamon, honey, and lily petals. Today, commercial perfuming is a competitive, multi-billion-dollar, and highly scientific industry. Essential oils are produced from plants like lavender, sandalwood, and rosemary. Perfume fixatives like musk, ambergris, and civet, traditionally derived from animals, are now made synthetically. Still, interest in natural perfuming and aromatherapy is growing, in part because some people are allergic to synthetic fragrances. In the past year there's been an explosion of scents for even the most obscure olfactory tastes. You can now get alternative perfumes like fig. And for the really adventurous, there's the Smell This label, which markets fragrances like smoke, cake batter, and -- yes -- dirt. The Queen of Sheba, we imagine, would not be impressed. And for this week, that's the Living on Earth Almanac.

 

 

Living on Earth wants to hear from you!

Living on Earth
62 Calef Highway, Suite 212
Lee, NH 03861
Telephone: 617-287-4121
E-mail: comments@loe.org

Newsletter [Click here]

Donate to Living on Earth!
Living on Earth is an independent media program and relies entirely on contributions from listeners and institutions supporting public service. Please donate now to preserve an independent environmental voice.

Newsletter
Living on Earth offers a weekly delivery of the show's rundown to your mailbox. Sign up for our newsletter today!

Sailors For The Sea: Be the change you want to sea.

The Grantham Foundation for the Protection of the Environment: Committed to protecting and improving the health of the global environment.

Contribute to Living on Earth and receive, as our gift to you, an archival print of one of Mark Seth Lender's extraordinary wildlife photographs. Follow the link to see Mark's current collection of photographs.

Buy a signed copy of Mark Seth Lender's book Smeagull the Seagull & support Living on Earth