Musk is the name originally given to a substance with a penetrating odor obtained from a gland of the male musk deer, which is situated between its stomach and genitals. The substance has been used as a popular perfume fixative since ancient times and is one of the most expensive animal products in the world. The name, originated from Sanskrit muá¹£ká meaning “testicle,” has come to encompass a wide variety of substances with somewhat similar odors although many of them are quite different in their chemical structures. They include glandular secretions from animals other than the musk deer, numerous plants emitting similar fragrances, and artificial substances with similar odors.
The musk deer belongs to the family Moschidae and lives in Pakistan, India, Tibet, China, Siberia and Mongolia. To obtain the musk, the deer is killed and its gland, also called “musk pod”, is removed. It is dried either in the sun, on a hot stone, or by immersion in hot oil. Upon drying, the reddish-brown paste turns into a black granular material called “musk grain”, which is used for alcoholic solutions. The aroma of the tincture becomes more intense during storage and gives a pleasant odor only after it is considerably diluted. No other natural substance has such a complex aroma associated with so many contradictory descriptions; however, it is usually described abstractly as animalic, earthy and woody or something akin to the odor of baby’s skin.
Good musk is of a dark purplish color, dry, smooth and unctuous to the touch, and bitter in taste. It dissolves in boiling water to the extent of about one-half; alcohol takes up one-third of the substance, and ether and chloroform dissolve still less. The grain of musk will distinctly scent millions of cubic feet of air without any appreciable loss of weight, and its scent is not only more penetrating but more persistent than that of any other known substance. In addition to its odoriferous principle, it contains ammonia, cholesterol, fatty matter, a bitter resinous substance, and other animal principles.
The best quality is Tonkin musk from Tibet and China, followed by Assam and Nepal musk, while Carbadine musk from Russian and Chinese Himalayan regions are considered inferior. Obtaining one kilogram (2.2 lb) of musk grains requires between thirty and fifty deer, making musk tinctures highly expensive. At the beginning of the 19th century, Tonkin musk grains cost about twice their weight in gold.
Musk has been a key constituent in many perfumes since its discovery, being held to give a perfume long-lasting power as a fixative. Despite its high price, musk tinctures were used in perfumery until 1979, when musk deers were protected as an endangered species by the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES). Today the trade quantity of the natural musk is controlled by CITES but illegal poaching and trading continues. An illegal shipment of 700Â kilograms (1,500Â lb) of Chinese musk from the musk deer was seized in Japan in 1987, an amount corresponding to approximately 100,000 deer killed. Until the late 19th century, natural musk was used extensively in perfumery until economic and ethical motives led to the adoption of synthetic musk, which is used almost exclusively. The organic compound primarily responsible for the characteristic odor of musk is muscone.
Modern use of natural musk pods is limited to Traditional Chinese medicine
Castoreum is the name given to the exudate from the castor sacs of the mature North American Beaver Castor canadensis and the European Beaver, Castor fiber. Within the zoological realm, castoreum is the yellowish secretion of the castor sac in combination with the beaver’s urine, used during scent marking of territory. Both male and female beavers possess a pair of castor sacs and a pair of anal glands located in two cavities under the skin between the pelvis and the base of the tail. The castor sacs are not true glands (endocrine or exocrine) on a cellular level, hence references to these structures as preputial glands or castor glands are misnomers.
Today, it is used in trapping, as a tincture in some perfumes, or touted as an aphrodisiac.
In perfume-making, the term castoreum is more liberally applied to denote the resinoid extract resulting from the dried and alcohol tinctured beaver castor. The dried beaver castor sacs are generally aged for two or more years to mellow and for their raw harshness to dissipate. In perfumery, castoreum has largely been used as an animalic note suggesting leather, compounded with other ingredients including top, middle, and base notes as a composition. Some classic perfumes incorporating castor are Emeraude, Coty Chanel Cuir de Russie, Magie Noire, Lancôme Caractère, Hechter Madame, Carven, Givenchy III, Shalimar, and many “leather” themed compositions.  Twenty four compounds known to be constituents of beaver castoreum were individually screened for pheremonal activity. These are the phenols 4-ethylphenol and 1,2-dihydroxybenzene and the ketones acetophenone and 3-hydroxyacetophenone. Five additional compounds noted are 4-methyl-1,2-dihydroxybenzene, 4-methoxyacetophenone, 5-methoxysalicylic acid, salicylaldehyde, and 3-hydroxybenzoic acid.
The civet produces a musk (also called civet) highly valued as a fragrance and stabilizing agent for perfume. Both male and female civets produce the strong-smelling secretion, which is produced by the civet’s perineal glands. It is harvested by either killing the animal and removing the glands, or by scraping the secretions from the glands of a live animal. The latter is the preferred method today.
Ambergris occurs as a biliary secretion of the intestines of the sperm whale, and can be found floating upon the sea, or in the sand near the coast. It is also sometimes found in the abdomens of whales. Because giant squids’ beaks have been found embedded within lumps of ambergris, scientists have theorized that the whale’s intestine produces the substance as a means of easing the passage of hard, sharp objects that the whale might have inadvertently eaten.Ambergris can be found in the Atlantic Ocean; on the coasts of Brazil and Madagascar; and on the coast of Africa, of the East Indies, The Maldives, mainland China, Japan, India, Australia, New Zealand and the Molucca islands. Most commercially collected ambergris comes from the Bahama Islands and Providence Island in the Caribbean. Ambergris has a peculiar sweet, earthy odor. The principal use of ambergris was as a fixative in perfumery, though it has now been largely displaced by synthetics.
Animal rights groups, such as the World Society for the Protection of Animals, express concern that harvesting musk is cruel to animals. Between these ethical concerns and the availability of synthetic substitutes, the practice of raising civets for musk is dying out. Chanel  claims that natural civet has been replaced with a synthetic substitute since 1998.
Ambergris ( or grey amber) is a solid, waxy, flammable substance of a dull gray or blackish color produced in the digestive system of sperm whales.
L’ambre gris
A ne pas confondre avec l’ambre jaune, cette résine fossile à couleur de miel dont on fait des bijoux. Rien à voir non plus avec l’ambrette, graine originaire du Brésil, qui est bien un ingrédient de parfumerie, mais sans rapport avec l’ambre gris.
Ce dernier est une création exclusive du cachalot qui, à force de manger trop de poulpes, se créé des embarras digestifs et finit par rejeter en mer une humble concrétion intestinale dite “ambre gris”. Plus légère que l’eau, cette matière flotte durant des jours au gré des courants pour finir par échouer sur une plage. une fois récolté, l’ambre est mis à sécher plusieurs mois jusqu’à ce que son odeur, plutôt nauséabonde, laisse place à une délicate senteur iodée. cet ingrédient d’une finesse remarquable, très prisé des parfumeurs, est utilisé comme fixateur dans les parfums d’excellente qualité. Mais on y a recours avec parcimonie : ce produit de hasard, qui échappe à tout circuit de production est très couteux.
Lorsqu’on parle d’interdire les matières animales, c’est donc une bêtise par rapport à l’ambre gris, qui est une secrétion rejettée par l’animal. Au contraire protéger ces animaux pour continuer à récolter leur précieux ambre sur les plages serait une meilleure solution.
Le castoréum
Le castor russe, qui se nourrit de poissons, produit un castoréum de piètre qualité. Celui du castor canadien, en revanche, dégage une senteur subtile d’encre et de cuir. Cette substance huileuse, avec laquelle le castor graisse sa peau, est produite par une paire de glandes internes. On”récolte”donc le castoréum en janvier au moment où les trappeurs canadiens chassent l’animal, grand déprédateur forestier qui est nuisible pour le biotope en trop grand nombre. En parfumerie ce produit exalte les senteurs et participe aux fragrances orientales ou chyprées. Cependant il est de moins en moins utilisé à cause d’une mauvaise opinion publique.
La civette
Cette sorte de chat sauvage d’Ethiopie utilise une sécrétion d’odeur puissante pour marquer son territoire. Or, par chance pour la civette!, cette substance provient d’une poche extérieure. Si bien qu’il lui arrive de la  perdre dans les broussailles, auquel cas il n’y a qu’à la ramasser. La civette est également élevée dans les fermes éthiopiennes (qui permettent de créer de l’emploi dans ses régions) où sa précieuse sécrétion est ainsi prélevée. De cet excellent fixateur Jacques Guerlain disait : “Si je ne devais plus utiliser qu’un seul produit animale ce serait la civette”, qui en effet est présente dans Shalimar et Jicky.
Le musc
Rareté des raretés, le musc qui a toujours été un produit couteux est devenu aujourd’hui inacessible. Le petit chevrotin porte-musc, qui broute l’artémise parfumée des prairies de l’Himalaya, est désormais protégé. La chasse est limitée et le chevrotin mâle refuse de “fabriquer” du musc en captivité. Du coup, pour produire les exhalaisons sensuelles de sa poche abdominale, on a de plus en plus recours au “musc moderne”, notes animales de synthèse.
Protection des espèces et contrebande
Aujourd’hui certains pays, comme la Grande-Bretagne, refusent d’intégrer des produits animaux à leur compositions et n’emploient que des muscs de synthèse. Il n’empêche que le musc, très utilisé en Asie, continue de faire l’objet d’un commerce extrêmement lucratif: la vakeur d’un kilo de musc brut est d’environ 70 000 euros. Par ailleurs, les réglementations très sévères stimulent la contrebande. Avec deux poches de musc, un tibétain peut vivre pendant un an!
