Лако-красочные материалы — производство

In a perverse way, the Black Death of 1347-1351 and subsequent pandemics were huge catalysts to the growth in usage of aromatic products, which had already shown signs of flourishing from Eastern alchemical practice. Plague was believed to be caught by breathing foul air. Dead bodies lying in the street gave off the odour of decay, and to counteract this people carried nosegays and small floral bouquets (posies) from whence the ring-a-ring of roses children’s nursery rhyme derived (red rings being a primary visual symptom of plague). To visit important people during times of epidemic one went through the trial of fire and water at their doors. Washing with water and enveloping the body in smoke or incense was felt to be an effective defence against Black Death, and in addition torch bearers with plague torches (brands of burning fragrant herbs) walked ahead of important and rich personages.

Gentile of Foligno, a medical practitioner of Padua, made the connection between smell and death thus:

Poisonous material is generated about the heart and lungs. Its impression is not for excess in degree ofprimary quality, but through the properties of poisonous vapours having been communicated by means of air breathed in and out, great extention and transition of the Plague takes place, not only from man to man, but from country to country.

The Plague doctors wore full, leather coats and a hat and crystal goggles to ensure they did not catch the disease from patients, and to be doubly sure touched them only with examining wands. They wore large cones, or nosegays, resembling a bird’s beak or bill, and thus it is believed the derogative ‘quack’ applied to fake doctors.

In an effort to keep disease at bay, the first attempts to adopt more hygienic customs began around this time, at least with the aristocracy. The English King Henry III (1207-1272) sent the following message ahead during one trip to London:

Since the privy chamber in London is situated in an undue and improper place, wherefore it smells badly, we command you on the faith and love by which you are bounden to us that you in no wise omit to cause another privy chamber, to be made in such more fitting and proper place that you may select there, even though it should costs a hundred pounds…

Guilds for the supply of aroma products began to be formed between the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Related crafts included the London Guild of Pepperers and Spicers, and in 1268 the Glover’s Guild was recognized. King Henry I of France and England granted a heraldic shield to the Guild of Perfumers, which was essentially silver, with three red gloves and a gold spice box on a blue background. The connection with gloves came from the need for leather tanners to hide the vile smell of their profession, and from their expertise in fine aromas the development of perfume grew. A charter to glover perfumes had been granted by Philip Augustus of France (1165-1223) as early as 1190.

Venice was an important centre for trade and commerce between Europe, the Middle East and the Orient, and became the funnel through which many spices and aromatic raw materials reached Europe, and its domination in trade for these products lasted for a few hundred years.

Glass saw major strides in its development. In medieval times a green tint, caused by iron in the silicate, was common. Antimony, used as a decolourizer, was replaced by manganese, and the Renaissance pro­duced rapid development in the art of glassmaking in Venice. By 1400, a glass-like rock-crystal had been produced and perfected (cristillo).

Distillation as an art was well known in the eleventh century, but the first European treatise on distilling was written by the Catalonian Arnald of Villanova around 1310. Different types of distilled spirit were identified as aqua vitae (life), aqua vini (wine), and aqua ardens (burning water) and the book on the practice (The Vertuose Boke of Distylla — cyori) was translated into English from the German 1500ad original version of Jerome Brunschweig by Lawrence Andrews. This book dealt in detail with the essential oils of lavender, juniperwood, pine and rosemary.

Early processes of distillation used alembics, usually made of copper, iron or tin, since lead and silver had the characteristic of tainting the distillation vapour.

Arnald of Villanova showed interest also in the sulfur baths of Montpellier, and it was around this time that the great fragrance raw material and production centre of Grasse, in the south of France, began to develop strongly. Along with Arnald of Villanova came such famous alchemical names as Roger Bacon (attributed with the invention in Europe of gunpowder), Ramon Lull of Spain, Nicolas Flamel of France and George Ripley of England, who kept the flames of knowl­edge alive, moving technique and thought apace. Table 2.1 gives a more detailed list of key figures in the history of alchemy, who furthered the development of an art which eventually became true chemistry. Alchemists, as we shall see, figured in the furtherance of aromatic knowledge for the next two centuries.