166 SENSE OF SMELL. 



comparing it with that of some well-known substance ; hence the epi- 

 thets musky, alliaceous, spermatic, &c. M. Adelon asserts, that the 

 sole classification which can be adopted, is into the agreeable and dis- 

 agreeable. But even the miserably imperfect division proposed by 

 Haller 1 is better than this: he made three classes Odores suaveo- 

 lentes, 0. medii, and 0. foetores. The truth is, that all the objections 

 made to the division of savours into agreeable and disagreeable, are 

 equally applicable to odours. Assafoetida, we have seen, was employed 

 by the ancients as a condiment ; and, although with us it has the name 

 devil's dung, it is by many of the Asiatics, called food of the gods. 

 We find, too, certain animals that are almost enchanted by particular 

 odours. The cat, for example, if catmint Nepeta cataria, or the 

 root of valerian Valeriana officinalis be placed in its way. Again, 

 odours, generally thought agreeable, are to some persons intolerable. 

 To many, as to Professor Muller, 2 mignonette has but an herb-like 

 odour. The smell of the callicanthus is to most individuals pleasant; 

 but exceedingly disagreeable to some; and, according to Arnold, 3 whilst 

 the flower of Iris Persica was pronounced to possess an agreeable 

 odour by forty-one out of fifty-four persons, four considered it to have 

 little scent ; by eight it was declared to be devoid of odour, and by one 

 to be disagreeable. These differences, like those in the appreciation 

 of savours by animals, must be referred to minute and inappreciable 

 differences of organization. 



Odours have been considered to be possessed of medicinal and even 

 of poisonous properties. Some individuals, whose peculiarity of con- 

 stitution renders them very liable to the action of ipecacuanha or 

 jalap, experience the emetic effects of the former, or the cathartic 

 qualities of the latter, by merely smelling them for a short time; 

 and the majority of individuals, by pounding jalap or rhubarb find 

 themselves sooner or later more or less affected. By smelling strong 

 alcohol for a considerable time, intoxication may be induced, as not 

 unfrequently happens to the spirit-taster, who is young in his vocation. 

 It has also been asserted, that the constant application of this sense to 

 the discrimination of teas in the English East India Company's ware- 

 houses has laid the foundation for numerous head affections ; but the 

 report originated in prejudice, or in accidental coincidences, and has 

 not been found to be accurate. 



In all cases in which we see medicinal or poisonous effects actually 

 produced by substances inhaled through the nostrils, we cannot attempt 

 to explain them by the simple impression made by the odorous parti- 

 cles on the olfactory nerves. They must be accounted for by minute 

 particles of the medicinal or poisonous substance being diffused in the 

 atmosphere, and coming in contact with the mucous membrane, through 

 which they are absorbed, and in this manner enter the circulation. 



Odours have, likewise, been considered to possess nutritive proper- 

 ties ; and this, chiefly, perhaps, from the effect known to be produced 



1 Elementa Physiolog., torn. v. lib xiv. p. 162, Lausann., 1769. 



2 Elements of Physiology, by Baly, p. 1317. Loud., 1839. 



3 Physiology, ii. 561, cited by Dr. Carpenter, art. Smell, in Cyclopaedia of Anatomy and 

 Physiology, pt. xxxvi. p. 703. London, June, 1849. 



