THE SENSE OF SMELL 289 



fhe same person, according to circumstances. It is positively certain tliat .the 

 sense of smell, like all other senses, can be refined by exercise; we gradually 

 learn more easily to apprehend faint odors — to distinguish between different 

 ones — to recognise the shades of one and the same odor. The nose of a connois- 

 eeur of wines boasts of being able to find out the land and the year which have 

 produced a certain wine ; the nose of a chemist is in many cases a reliable agent 

 tor discovering the presence of smellable chemical combinations. On the other 

 band, we often meet with a gradually developed obtuseness of the sense or 

 smell, be it in consequence of old age, in which all senses suffer fi'om a decrease 

 of nourishment, of a habitual atuffing of the smelling channel with snuff, or of a* 

 diseased condition of the nasal cuticle. That every bad cold carries with it a 

 considerable weakening or temporary loss of our smelling faculty is an experience 

 which few men will not have gained. Some persons are inaccessible only to 

 certain odors, their sense of smell being otherwise in a perfectly normal condi- 

 tion — a partial want, the cause of which is yet unexplained. 



We shall say but few words on the aesthetic side of smelling. The opposite 

 cCTnceptions of fragrance and stench denote the fact that certain qualities o^ 

 smell produce an agreeable, and others a disagreeable sensation. But it is hardly 

 necessary to remark that there is no universally acceptable division of odors, 

 without reference to the nose, into agreeable and disagreeable ones; that one 

 person is delighted by an odorous substance which is loathsome to another ; nay, 

 that the same person may under certain circumstances call an odorous substance 

 fragrant, and detest it under others. Habit, custom, bodily conditions, determine 

 and modify the aesthetic effects of impressions of smell. Thousands of persons 

 find the smell of valerian greatly disagreeable, while others rank it, as do the 

 cats, among the perfumes; some are attracted, others are repulsed, by the smell 

 of old cheese or of garlic. Even the most disgusting odors meet with particular 

 favor; there are hysteric ladies to whom the smell of burned hair is incense. 

 The Laplander rejects such tallow as would not, by its rancid smell, stand the 

 test of his nose. It is true, we take the liberty of blaming their taste, or evea 

 to class them with the animals on account of this their presumed perverseness ; 

 but we do it, perhaps, with no more right than they would have to reproach ua 

 for placing musk among the perfumes. Very likely, the esbouquet atmosphere 

 of a European fashionable lady is as distasteful to an Esquimaux as is to us his 

 fish-oil smell, and neither he nor we have a right to declare his or our judg- 

 ment exclusively acceptable. De gustibus non est disputandum. As regards 

 the change of judgment in the same person concerning certain odors, we have 

 already spoken of that daily experience that in a state of hunger we are powerfully 

 attracted by a -smell of food which disgusts us in a state of satiety. Finally, we 

 must also remark that our judgment varies with intensity of an odor; that most 

 persons find a feeble odor of clove oil pleasant, and a strong odor of the same dis- 

 agreeable, and so on. The mentioned facts admit of no physiological conclusion ; 

 we have not yet made the faintest step towards explaining the question how a 

 sensation of smell acts upon our imagination, or on what conditions depends the 

 quality of a feeling produced by smell. It need not be further explained that 

 to call a sensation of smell iu itself agreeable or disagreeable is to speak incor- 

 rectly. In our introduction we have designated the sense of smell as a tyrant ; 

 it is but just that we should represent also its good qualities in their real light, 

 and try to satisfy in our readers the desire of knowing the vocation and func- 

 tions of that sense. A few hints will suffice ; may the reader sketch out to him- 

 self the rest. The observation of animals is our best guide for that purpose; 

 in many of them the sense of smell performs a more important, more obvious 

 part than in man, who, if it must be, can even do without it. The finding of 

 their necessary aliment, the discovery of their natural enemies, depends, with 

 thousands of animals, on the services of the organ of smell, and hence the extra- 

 ordinary fineness of that sense with them. The fox scents a dead body from a 

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