NK - BTW, Annwyn

[Marc Carlson]

Anawyn at aol.com wrote:

> Well, my 15 minutes of fame, and now they are over. I do look like a mad
> scientist, don't I? One night in the Laboh-ratory..

More like a cheerful one...

> We still need to see your SHOE pictures!

They're sitting right here, in this big black book.

> You can, by the way, have the class over here if that would help, but a 
> Friday nite would be better for me if so.

I appreciate it, but I think we're going to stick with the
Wednesday and Saturday
thing.

> By the by..I also have a Berengaria question, if she is available:

I'm told that real life has trashed her involvement, but we
can see what we can
do without the Great Communicator :)

> recipe for Pomander that I came across:
> "Take two penny worth of labdanum, two penny worth of storax liquid, one
> penny worth of calamus aromaticus, as much balme, half a quarter pound of
> fine wax, of cloves and mace two penny worth, of nutmegs eight penny worth,
> and of musk four graines. Beat all exceedingly together  till they come to a
> perfect substance, then mould it in any fashion you please and dry it."
> Gervaise Markham

1568-1637 

let me whip out my pocket OED

> O.K.- what are they: labdanum(laudanum- same thing?)

Labdanum->ladanum
Ladanum->a gum resin which exudes from plants of the genus
Cistus, esp. C. Ladaniferus and C. Creticus, much used in
perfumery and fumigation.

A web search suggests that C. Creticus is "Rock Rose - a
Mediterranean flower".

> storax liquid

Storax->a fragrant gum resin described by ancient
writers....in later commercial and pharmeceutical use to the
balm of the tree liquidambar orientale.

back to the web... "Storax, gum resin (Liquidambar
styraciflua, Hammamelidaceae). Uses: breath sweetener.
Const: storesin, benzoates, cinnamates, cinnamic acid,
styrene."

> calamus

1. A reed, a cane, vaguely used by early writers after greek
or latin authors.
2. Sweet calamus, c. aromaticus: a. some eastern aromatic
plant or plants (supposed by some to be Andropogon
Schananthus, the sweet scented lemon grass of malabar) b.
applied by by some English herbalists to the native Sweet
Flag or Sweet Rush.

> aromaticus balme?

Not in OED, but I'll bet it's referring to "true
Balsam"/"Balsam of Mecca"/"Balsam of Gilead" ie. the
aromatic resin of various trees of the genus Balsamodendron
-- Myyrh.

>Are they, or their equivalents, obtainable nowadays?

So I'd say yes.

> What would be the equivalent in measurement for a penny worth? How about a
> graine?

A pennyweight is 24 grains; 1/20th of a troy ounce; or 1.55
grams

A grain is the weight of one barleycorn (presumably one
that's 1/3rd of an inch long). It's .648 grams

> I wonder if these could be made in smaller soap molds and used as site tokens
> for WinterKingdom?

Site identification by smell.  I like it.

Marc/Diarmaid