Eau de Cologne

Eau de Cologne, a celebrated perfume, the reputed inventor of which is Johann Maria Farina (1685-1766), a native of Piedmont, who settled in Cologne in 1709, though his claim to be the inventor is not undisputed. The secret of the process of its manufacture is claimed by from thirty to forty firms, bearing the name of Farina, now existing in Cologne. The recipe is said to be twelve drops of each of the essential oils neroli, citron, bergamot, orange, and rosemary, along with one drachm of Malabar cardamoms and one gallon of rectified spirit. The whole is distilled together, and the condensed liquid constitutes Eau de Cologne. In Great Britain, where chemists and others make an article little, if at all, inferior to the imported one, the oils are usually mixed with a highly purified spirit, and the subsequent distillation dispensed with.