The Scents of Flowers 



have a keen sense of smell the scent of flowers 

 does not seem the same in any two persons. I 

 have heard, indeed, of a school inspector who 

 tested, or tried to test, the capacities of some 

 unfortunate school-children by telling them to 

 describe not only the colours, but the scents of 

 certain flowers ; but the ways of school inspectors 

 are wonderful. And it has been gravely asserted 

 that none but those with a long pedigree can 

 detect the smell of strawberry leaves dying in the 

 autumn, though Bacon classed their " most excel- 

 lent cordial smell," with violets and roses i.e. 

 with the most common flower scents. If we may 

 judge from his silence, Homer seems to have 

 known nothing of the scents of flowers, for he 

 never mentioned them ; and, indeed, they are not 

 much mentioned by any Greek or Roman writer, 

 though both Greeks and Romans extracted the 

 scent for perfumes and ointments. The Bible, as 

 might be expected from its Oriental connection, 

 has frequent references to sweet smells, especially 

 of fruits and flowers, from Jacob's " smell of a field 

 which the Lord hath blessed," to St Paul's " odour 

 of a sweet smell " and " sweet-smelling savour," to 

 which he compares acceptable works. And Eng- 

 lish writers of all ages have rejoiced in the scents 

 of gardens and flowers ; Shakespeare is full of his 

 enjoyment in " the garden of sweet flowers, that 

 dainty odours from them threw around," and 

 Milton's appreciation, which was probably in- 

 creased by his blindness, is shown in a very 

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