1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Pomander

POMANDER (from Fr. pomme d'ambre, i.e. apple of amber), a ball made of perfumes, such as ambergris (whence the name), musk, civet, &c., and formerly worn or carried in a case, also known by the same name, as a protection against infection in times of pestilence or merely as a useful article to modify bad smells. The globular cases which contained the “pomanders” were hung from a neck-chain or attached to the girdle, and were usually perforated and made of gold or silver. Sometimes they contained several partitions, in each of which was placed a different perfume. There is an early Spanish pomander set with emeralds, and a fine 16th-century one, dredged from the Thames, in the British Museum.