Dr Clark and Capt. SherieiWs Ascent of' Mont Blanc. 255 



to such things as we do not eat, is associated with the idea of 

 the complete absence of all these circumstances ; and where 

 pleasant, its pleasure is increased, where painful, its pain is 

 materially diminished, by this very absence, by its independ- 

 ent and semi-incorporeal nature, as I may say. Now, it hap- 

 pens very often indeed, that when, from association, the plea- 

 sure or pain, which we derive from a particular perception, is 

 materially altered, we no longer recognize the perception as 

 being the same in itself : so that a smell, which as perfume 

 stood high in our preference, may, when taken in as a taste, 

 be thought less agreeable, and thus not readily recognized to 

 be the same perception, and vice versa. 



Contrary associations produce more diversities in smells 

 than in any thing, I believe. I have known a person, who 

 was passing one of those scavenger's heaps, which lie near 

 some of the roads in the outskirts of London, but who had 

 not directed his eyes that way, remark, that there was a 

 great smell of musk. In this case, of course, whether such 

 person was pleased or not with the smell, would depend entirely 

 on whether he was undeceived or not as to what was the real 

 cause of it. I had never before the least idea that the smell 

 of musk was identical with the smell in question, which to me, 

 who perceived whence it came, was quite offensive. That 

 which had hindered me from before remarking that they were 

 alike, must principally have been, that I always had been 

 used to find the one pleasant, and the other disagreeable. 



Art. XI. — Account of Dr Clark and Captain Shcnviffls 

 Ascent of Mont Blanc, in August 1825. 



oome time ago, Dr Edmund Clark had formed a plan of 

 ascending Mont Blanc ; but, as he had no other motive for 

 this journey but that of curiosity, he resolved to wait for the 

 most favourable weather, and to rely on the judgment of the 

 most experienced persons at Chamouni. 



Dr Clark had sought in vain at Geneva for a companion ; 

 but, on the day preceding that fixed for the ascent, Captain 



