Hungersnot

Kapitel 18

Similar to the distillate here, only more beautiful, newer, and more extraordinary—it's a delicate plant he himself has cultivated in his heart.

The distillate of these plants, which bloom there, cannot be smelled by anyone but themselves; they possess a unique...

Perfume could transform the world into a fragrant Eden, and he felt that life in that garden was a feast for his sense of smell.

It's tolerable. To make oneself a giant still that can flood everyone with its own distillate.

This is the dream that Grenouille cherished.

But just as Baldini, emboldened by the alcohol, began to recount increasingly rambling and unrestrained stories of the past...

While indulging in his own fantasies, Grenouille quickly abandoned his bizarre imaginings. He first...

The image of the large distillation cauldron was banished from my mind, and I pondered how to apply the knowledge I had just learned to a more easily understandable way.

The purpose.

Before long, he became an expert in distillation. He discovered—his nose was more regular than Baldani's.

Even more effective… The degree of heat release has a decisive impact on the quality of the distillate. Every plant, every flower, every…

Each piece of wood and each oilseed crop requires a special process. Sometimes it requires particularly strong steam, sometimes it requires...

Some flowers can be boiled properly, but others can only be best obtained by distilling over a low flame.

The processing method is equally important. Peppermint and yellow lavender can be distilled whole. Other herbs, however, must be...

It requires careful picking, peeling, chopping, and grating into powder. It can also be mashed or even mixed into a paste. But some things simply cannot be...

Distillation was a major headache for Grenouille.

Baldini saw that Grenouille had a reliable grasp of the entire apparatus, so he let him operate the distillation pot.

Grenouille made full use of the freedom given to him. He spent his days blending perfumes and making other aromatic and spice products.

At night, he would immerse himself in distillation techniques. His plan was to produce entirely new spices, so that at least some of these spices could be used...

He used the materials to create several perfumes he had envisioned. Initially, he achieved some success. He successfully produced a type of perfume called "Zunma".

Elderflower oil and rapeseed oil, produced using freshly peeled elderberry bark and yew branches, yield a solution whose distillate is naturally...

The aroma is still like the raw materials, but it's enough to pique his interest in further processing them. Of course, there are also some...

This method of working with materials is completely ineffective. For example, Grenouille's attempt to distill the odor of glass...

The smooth glass had a cool, clay-like smell, a smell that most people couldn't detect. He got some window glass.

Glass and bottle glass, processed into large fragments, powdery fragments, once it was fine, he distilled brass,

Porcelain, leather, grain, and gravel. He distilled pure earth, blood, wood, fresh fish, and his own head.

He even distilled water, Seine water, feeling its unique aroma was worth preserving.

Letters, using a distillation still, can extract fragrance from these materials in the same way as they are extracted from thyme, lavender, and parsley seeds.

He extracted the unique aroma from it. He had no idea that distillation was simply separating the mixed substances into more volatile components.

And non-volatile ingredients, while for the cosmetics industry, the only option is to combine certain volatile plant aromatic oils with non-volatile ingredients.

The aroma and the residue with little aroma are separated. For substances that have lost their aromatic oils, distillation is used...

The law is, of course, meaningless. We modern people have studied physics; we understand it as soon as someone mentions it. But for Grenouille…

For Jehovah, this understanding was the result of a series of disappointing trials. He spent months...

He stayed up all night sitting by the still, trying every possible way to produce a new perfume in a concentrated form that no one in the world had ever done before using the distillation method.

Aside from a few laughable bits of vegetable oil produced at the museum, nothing was gained. His imagination, though not quite...

It was so deep, so immeasurable, yet he couldn't extract even a drop of that specific feeling that often surfaced in his mind.

Fragrances can't be made into a single atom.

When he realized he had failed, he stopped the experiment and fell seriously ill.

He had a high fever, which was accompanied by sweating for the first few days, but later countless pustules appeared, as if the pores on his skin had all opened up.

It seemed like there weren't enough. Grenouille's body was covered in these small red blisters, many of which had burst and were oozing fluid.

The pustules initially formed small pustules, then swelled up again; others developed into boils, swelling large and red, resembling volcanoes.

It split open like a mouth, gushing out thick pus and blood mixed with yellowish mucus. After a while, Grenouille appeared alive.

Like a martyr who was stoned to death from the inside, with a hundred wounds oozing pus.

Baldini was naturally worried. He was preparing to expand his business beyond the capital, and even throughout the country.

Unexpectedly, he lost his precious apprentice, which undoubtedly made him very unhappy. Because, in fact, for

These new perfumes that captivated Paris were increasingly ordered not only from the provinces but also from foreign courts.

Many. To meet market demand, Baldini has envisioned opening a branch on the outskirts of Sant'Antoine, a truly...

The workshops where the latest perfumes are mass-produced and packaged in adorable little perfume bottles.

Then, a cute little girl would pack them and ship them to the Netherlands, Britain, and the German Empire. For a worker settled in Paris...

For the craftsman, such a risky act was not legal, but he had recently received protection from the upper class, and he proposed...

The perfume he concocted provided him with this protection, not only for high-ranking officials but also for important figures such as the customs officials of Paris.

Mr. Bao, a key figure in the Royal Treasury, and Mr. Fedor de Bruyne, a promoter of economic prosperity, could all become...

As his patron, Monsieur de Brueghs could even expect royal privileges, the best one could hope for.

Moreover, this privilege is a passport that grants freedom from the control of any state or social class, and it allows one to escape all constraints in doing business.

It is a perpetual guarantee of the troubles of the world and the attainment of a stable, unquestionable wealth.

Later, Baldini conceived another plan, a lovely plan, one involving Saint-Anne.

The Tovan workshop had the opposite plan; according to this plan, the workshop would not produce in large quantities, but rather produce for supply.

For personal use: He wanted to design personal perfumes for a small group of upper-class customers, more precisely, a product for individuals.

Just as tailoring clothes to fit one person is called designing a perfume for one person only, this perfume uses noble names.

He envisioned a perfume called "Madame de Lacerne" and a perfume called "Marshal de Laville."

A "Duke of Dacchio perfume," and so on. He dreamed of a "Madame de Pompidou perfume," or even a...

"His Majesty's Perfume"—these perfumes are packaged in exquisitely polished agate bottles, which are decorated with carvings.

The bottle is edged in gold, and inconspicuously engraved on the inside of the foot with the words "Giselle Baldini, perfume expert". (King)

His name and his name on the same thing! Baldini dared to imagine such a wonderful thing! But now Gray

Noye is sick! Back then, Grimaldi—God protected him and sent him to Heaven! —He had sworn to endure anything.

He never loses anything; he can even spread the plague elsewhere! And now he's going to die here with me! What if...

He's dead? How terrible! And then there's the grand scheme of the workshop, the lovely little girl, privilege, and the King's perfume.

The plan is doomed!

Therefore, Baldini decided to do everything in his power to save his apprentice's precious life. He arranged for someone to bring Grenouille...

He moved from the wooden plank bed in the workshop to a clean bed in the building. He had a silk quilt laid out on this bed. He did it himself.

He helped carry the patient up the stairs, despite his indescribable disgust at the abscesses and pustules. He instructed his wife...

He cooked chicken soup with wine. He sent for the most famous doctor in the region, named Procopa, and paid him in advance.

He gave twenty francs for carriage expenses.

The doctor arrived, used his fingertips to lift the sheet, and looked at Grenouille's body, which appeared to have been pierced by pea-sized projectiles.

He only glanced at it. He left the room without even opening his briefcase, which was carried by his assistant who was following behind.

This illness... He was very clear about Baldini's condition from the beginning. It was a variant of syphilitic ulcers, and it had complications...

Late-stage purulent measles. The doctor believed that the patient did not need treatment because his body was decaying, like a corpse.

A corpse is not like a living organism, so it is impossible to properly install bloodletting instruments on it.

He said that although the disease's characteristic plague-like stench is not yet present—which is certainly surprising—it is still present.

From a strictly scientific point of view, it is indeed a little strange—but the patient will undoubtedly die within forty-eight hours.

This is just as true as his name, Dr. Procopa, suggests. He then demanded payment for his house call and the prognostic diagnosis.

Ten francs—including a five-franc rebate, which was used to help others who referred patients with these typical symptoms to him for diagnosis—

Then I took my leave.

Baldini was furious. He lamented and cried out in despair. He was indignant about his fate, clenching his teeth...

His own fingers. His grand plan, once again, shattered just as he neared its goal. Initially, Pellissier and his...

The boy invented one thing after another. Now, this young man possesses an inexhaustible knowledge of new scents.

This filthy brat, who's worth more than gold, has now, at the peak of his career, contracted syphilis.

Boils and late-stage purulent measles—why isn't the liver there two years later? Why not one year later? Where will it be?

By then, I had squeezed every last drop of profit out of him, like plundering a silver mine and a golden donkey. A year later, he could...

He could die peacefully. But now, he mustn't die within forty-eight hours, merciful God!

In that instant, Baldini thought of going to Notre Dame Cathedral to offer incense, lighting a candle, and praying that the Virgin Mary would grant him permission to enter.

Grenouille recovered his health. But then he abandoned the idea because time was too short. He ran out to get...

He prepared ink and paper, and sent his wife out of the patient's room. He would stay there alone. Then he sat down by the bedside.

He sat on the chair, placed the notepad on his lap, and held a dip pen in his hand, waiting for Grenouille to make his perfume comments.

He took notes during his confession. May God protect him so that he doesn't quietly take away the treasures he possesses in his life! May He...

In the final moments of his life, he was able to leave his will to a reliable person so that future generations could understand the most beautiful moments of each era.

The perfume! He, Baldini, will faithfully possess this will, the molecular formulas of all the most fragrant perfumes, and make...

He will carry it forward. He will attribute this immortal honor to Grenouille; indeed, he will—here he pays tribute to all…

I swear by the gods! — Present the king with the finest of these perfumes, placed in a glass bottle.

The bottle is adorned with gold flowers and the inscription: "A gift from Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, the Parisian perfume expert."