84 Dr Stark on the Influence of Colour on Odours. 



good index of what is pleasant to the taste, and fit for the pur-» 

 poses of nutrition. In the animal kingdom, and among many 

 of the Mammalia, it is the sense of smell that guides the still 

 blind young to the mother''s teat; and many of the beasts of 

 prey seem to be led to the haunts of the animals which form 

 their food, by intimations conveyed through their olfactory ap- 

 paratus. According to Scarpa, this sense, so acute in rapa- 

 cious birds, is very obtuse in the orders Gallince and Pas- 

 seres.* Reptiles possess the sense of smell; and it is said 

 that particular odours, such as that of rue {Ruta graveolens) 

 is disliked by serpents, and that the emanations from the 

 Aristohchia anguicida is even capable of killing the rattlesnake. 

 Perhaps the jugglers of Egypt and India may avail themselves 

 of such odours as enable them to handle with impunity the rep- 

 tiles which they display. 



Odours also powerfully affect fishes, as is well known from 

 the different preparations of bait in use among anglers ; and 

 facts are stated, which indicate that the odours of substances in 

 many cases guide the insect races to their proper food. In the 

 vegetable kingdom, odours are sensible in the leaves, roots, and 

 particularly the flowers and seeds of many families ; and in the 

 mineral kingdom, many species are principally distinguished by 

 the odours they emit, when rubbed or breathed upon,— the heat 

 and moisture in this last case seeming to disengage the odorous 

 particles. 



It may, therefore, be laid down as a general rule, though not 

 without some apparent exceptions, that every body in nature 

 possesses, in additiQU to its other distinctive qualities, an odour 

 or effluvium particularly its own.*f- In the animal kingdom, for 

 instance, not only has every species a characteristic smell, as the 

 horse, the ox, &c., but every individual may have an atmosphere 

 around it of emanations peculiar to that individual alone. In 

 the human race, not only is this the case, but even the differences 

 of age and sex are marked by peculiar odours. These emana- 

 tions may be produced or modified by food, occupation, climate, 

 the passions, personal cleanliness, or the reverse ; but it is not 



• Osphre^siologie, ou Traitd des Odeurs, &c. Par Hippol. Cloquet, D. M., 

 2d ed. Paris, 1821. 



•| Haller, Elementa Physiologise, v. 154. 



