ODORS AND LIFE. 



153 



will remain but to effect the composition of albuminous substances, in 

 order to give us the complete mastery of the processes which Nature 

 follows in her elaboration of immediate principles. That gift of mak- 

 ing its object a reality, which is the peculiar privilege of chemistry, 

 is also one of the strongest arguments to bring in proof of the abso- 

 luteness of those laws which w T e ascertain respecting the system of 

 forces external to us. 



Linnaeus, whose mind was remarkably analytical and classifying, 

 has not only arranged vegetables and animals in order, but has also 

 classified diseases, and even odors. He refers the latter to seven 

 classes : aromatic odors, such as that of laurel-leaves ; fragrant, like 

 those of lilies and jasmine ; ambrosial, such as amber, musk, etc. ; gar- 

 licky, like that of garlic ; fetid odors, like those of the goat, the or- 

 rage, and others ; disgusting odors, as those of many plants of the 

 solaneae order ; and, last of all, nauseous odors. The terms of Linnaeus 

 have generally become current in language, but we understand, of 

 course, that their value is merely conventional. As we have said be- 

 fore, there is no standard for the comparison of odors. We can only 

 describe them by making comparisons between them, according to the 

 degrees of resemblance existing between the impressions with which 

 they affect our olfactory membrane. They have no qualities capable 

 of being rigorously defined. This is the reason why it is impossible 

 to give them any natural classification. 



III. 



The sensations produced by smells are perceived and judged of in 

 a great variety of ways, though with less of difference than prevails as 

 to tastes. " I have seen a man," says Montaigne, " fly from the smell 

 of apples quicker than from a cannonade." The instance he alludes 

 to in this passage is that of Quercet, Francis I.'s secretary, who rose 

 from table and took flight whenever he saw apples upon it. History 

 tells us that Louis XIV. could not bear perfumes. Gretry was greatly 

 annoyed by the odor of roses ; that of a hare caused Mdlle. Contat to 

 faint. Odors which disgust us, like that of asafoetida and of the 

 valerian-root, are on the contrary highly enjoyed by the Orientals, 

 who use these substances for condiments. Among- other singular 

 instances related by Cloquet on this subject, we w T ill mention that 

 of a young girl who took the greatest delight in inhaling the scent of 

 old books, and that of a lawyer to whom the exhalations of a dunghill 

 yielded the most agreeable sensations. So that it is out of our power 

 to fix general rules with respect to the influence of odors on our or- 

 gans, and the character of the sensations which they effect in us; 

 still, from a purely physiological point of view, it is certain that some 

 of them exercise a uniform influence. Chardin and other travelers 

 mention that, when musk-hunters take from the animal the pouch 

 containing musk, they must have the nose and mouth covered by a 



