"The emphasis on the role of 'spirits' in chemical processes helps to explain why the alchemists placed so much importance on . For, by distillation, one could drive off the 'spiritual' part of a body and collect it separately in a pure form. In this way the ancient techniques of the perfumiers acquired a new theoretical significance. The oils and perfumes driven off when rose-petals were boiled in a closed vessel appeared to to embody the very soul (or essence or attar) of the original plant. This is in fact how phrases like 'essential oils' and 'vanilla essence' originated."
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, , The Architecture of Matter (1962)
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History of chemistry
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