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October 29, 1887

 

On October 29, 1887, at Faneuil Hall in Boston, a statue to Leif Erickson was dedicated. This was a triumph of intellectual persuasion, and one of the leading researchers into a Norse discovery, before Columbus, of North America, delivered a speech. This was Eben Norton Horsford. (July 27,  1818 to January 1, 1893) . This chemist at Harvard, published much  evidence for Erickson reaching Long Island, though it  is based on false etymologies of indian names and not well thought of today.

More mainstream is Horsford's textbook: Chemistry, Theoretical, Practical, and Analytical: As Applied and .Relating to the Arts and Manufactures, Volume 2 (1860).

One topic is the manufacture of perfume, and that section is headed by a  poetry quotation:

By nature's swift and secret working hand
The garden glows, and fills the liberal air
With lavish odors.—Thomson

[One of the components of many perfumes is from]
Civet.—The secretion of the civet cat, or viverra civetta; also, of the viverra zibetha. It is scraped out from the glandular receptacle near the anus, and sent to market in small bags made of the skin of the animal. The supply comes mostly from Malabar and Bassord. It is of a pale yellow color, and has a musky odor of such intensity as to be offensive, except in a highly diluted state. Its admixture in small proportions with other perfumes gives agreeable modifications, and imparts strength and permanence.

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