Musk

#### Musk. For some reason, it seems that whenever perfume materials are the subject of popular discussion, the few animal products ambergris, castoreum, civet and musk attract much more attention than do the material of vegetable origin. It must be admitted that the circumstances in which these animal perfume materials are obtained do contain quite exciting, romantic or surprising details. **Musk **is obtained from the male musk deer, Moschus Moschiferus, and possibly other Moschus species, animals that live in the inaccessible mountains of Himalaya-Altai, in Tibet, southern China and northern India. The musk is a secretion contained in an internal pouch on the abdomen of the male deer. It is still common practice to kill the animal in order to remove the pouch. More than 70,000 male musk deers die annually and unnecessarily for the sake of producing somewhere between ½ and 1 ½ ton of **Musk**. It has been proven that the pouches can be removed without killing the animal. The killings continue recklessly, however, and the animal faces extinction. The musk pod is shipped whole and dried; it is rarely cut open. Inside is the active and valuable ingredient called **Musk Grains **which form the Starting material for preparation of **Musk**** ****Tincture**** **or various extracts. The musk pod is slightly ovoid or pear-shaped, two to five cms. by five to eight cms., and hairy on one side, with silky appressed hairs radiating from the small orifice in the follicle. The color of the pod is grayish-brown. When dry, the pods exhale the characteristic animal-type, slightly amine-like, sweet and very persistent odor. From 60% to 75% of the weight of the pod should consist of "grains". **Musk**** ****Tincture**** **is prepared as described under **Tinctures**** **in Part One of the present work, or it may be prepared to suit special demands by the user himself. Resinoids have been prepared by benzene extraction, but ethyl alcohol extraction is generally preferred. This produces an alcoholresinoid ("resin-absolute"), free from most of the fatty insoluble matter of the crude musk. Musk Tincture is pale brown or dark amber colored and will, after proper ageing, present the typical odor of musk. **Musk Absolute **is produced by alcohol extraction of a petroleum ether "resinoid" from musk grains. This absolute is a dark brown very viscous liquid of intense, yet typical musk odor. It is one of the most expensive of all perfume materials. One gram will cost from 50 up to 80 shillings (engl.). It offers the advantage of occupying very little space in the perfume laboratory (if it is not kept in the safe!). Most perfumers still prefer to use the old-fashioned tincture with which the risk of overdosage is negligible. Musk Tincture and other **Musk**** **preparations are used quite extensively in perfumery, not only for the fixative effect of the Musk (this can hardly be classified as a strictly physical effect of lowering the vapor pressure in the perfume composition by the minute addition of musk), but mainly for the characteristic effect of the musk tincture. It gives a distinct "lift" or "life" to almost any well balanced perfume base when used in the proper concentration, i.e. just above the level of perception, or at the level where the effect is a perfect "rounding-off and levelling-out" of the perfume. The "animal note" should, in most cases, not be distinctly perceptible. With such precautions kept in mind, one can apply musk tincture to a great variety of perfume types: Oriental and heavy-floral types, aldehydic bases, muguet, rose, clover, violet, etc., etc. In flavor work, it is possible to take advantage of the "rounding-off" effect of musk tincture e.g. in tobacco flavors, in nut or caramel flavors, and even in certain fruit flavors. However, in this respect, synthetics of similar effect (Exaltone, Exaltolide, etc.) have frequently been used as substitutes for the natural product. **Musk**** ****Pods**** **are frequently adulterated, e.g. by removing the grains and substituting invaluable matter for the removed grains. Partly extracted pods, or emptied pods can be admixed, but this fraud is detected more easily. Adulteration will practically always take place *before *the musk pods are shipped from the final shipping port.