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The daily lemming

Posted by Robin on 20 December 2022 3 Comments

A possibility for your 2023 reading list? Coming in April from Harvard University Press, Elixir: A Parisian Perfume House and the Quest for the Secret of Life. "For centuries, scientists believed that living matter possessed a special quality—a spirit or essence—that differentiated it from nonliving matter. But by the nineteenth century, the scientific consensus was that the building blocks of one were identical to the building blocks of the other. Elixir tells the story of two young chemists who were not convinced, and how their work rewrote the boundary between life and nonlife. In the 1830s, Édouard Laugier and Auguste Laurent were working in Laugier Père et Fils, the oldest perfume house in Paris. By day they prepared the perfumery’s revitalizing elixirs and rejuvenating eaux, drawing on alchemical traditions that equated a plant’s vitality with its aroma. In their spare time they hunted the vital force that promised to reveal the secret to life itself." $32.95 for the hardcover.

Filed Under: perfume books
Tagged With: lemming

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3 Comments

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  1. Hera says:
    20 December 2022 at 6:10 pm

    Sounds really interesting, can’t wait to read it.

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    • Robin says:
      21 December 2022 at 9:22 am

      It looks like it might be a fun read…

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  2. skalolazka says:
    21 December 2022 at 5:53 pm

    Hope to borrow this from a library — our bookshelves are bursting at the seams. Does sound fascinating!

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