German composition

Section 71 On Perfumery. — II

The common or fixed⁠1 oils, on the contrary, such as olive⁠2 or linseed-oil, do not evaporate. This⁠3 may be easily illustrated, thus: If a piece of writing-paper be touched⁠4 with a fixed oil or grease, (S. 27, N. 8) it leaves⁠5 a stain, which⁠6, upon being held before the fire, will not disappear.

Now⁠7, if any⁠8 plant has a peculiar smell or taste, it is⁠4 generally found that its essential oil is the cause of this (S. 4, N. 5, B). Consequently⁠9, if we extract this, we really obtain⁠10 the essence.—Prof. Ascher.

Notes

1 fest; on the contrary, hingegen. See S. 15, N. 3.

2 as olive or linseed-oil, wie das Oliven-oder Leinsamenöl. When two compound nouns which have the last component in common follow each other, the last component is generally omitted in the first noun, which is connected with the next one by means of hyphens.—To evaporate, sich verflüchtigen.

3 Dies läßt sich auf folgende Weise leicht beweisen.

4 Turn the Passive Voice here into the Active Voice by means of the pron. man, as explained in S. 4, N. 4.

5 ‘to leave’, here = to leave behind; it = this.

6 The passage ‘which — disappear’ may be briefly rendered, thus: ‘which does not disappear before the fire’. See S. 32, N. 11.

7 Reverse the order of the first two words in this clause.

8 any = a.

9 Consequently = therefore, also, which place after the subject ‘we’.

10 to obtain, gewinnen; the essence (as a Nom.), der der Pflanze eigentümliche Wohlgeruch.