213 A HISTORY OF 



inconvenience fiom its loss. In a state of nature it is said to be use- 

 ful in guiding us to proper nourishment, and deterring us from that 

 which is unwholesome; but, in our present situation, such informa- 

 tion is but little wanted ; and, indeed, but little attended to. In fact, 

 the sense of smelling gives us very often false intelligence. Many 

 things that have a disagreeable odour, are, nevertheless, wholesome 

 and pleasant to the taste; and such as make eating an art, seldom 

 think a meal fit to please the appetite till it begins to offend the nose. 

 On the other hand, there are many things that smell most gratefully, 

 and yet are noxious, or fatal to the constitution. Some physicians 

 think that perfumes in general are unwholesome; that they relax the 

 nerves, produce head-aches, and even retard digestion. The man- 

 chineel apple, which is known to be deadly poison, is possessed of the 

 most grateful odour. Some of those mineral vapours that are often 

 found fatal in the stomach, smell like the sweetest flowers, and con- 

 tinue thus to flatter till they destroy. This sense, therefore, as it 

 should seem, was never meant to direct us in the choice of food, but 

 appears rather as an attendant than a necessary pleasure. 



Indeed, if we examine the natives of different countries, or even 

 different natives of the same, we shall find no pleasure in which they 

 differ so widely as that of smelling. Some persons are pleased with 

 the smell of a rose ; while I have known others that could not abide 

 to have it approach them. The savage nations are highly delighted 

 with the smell of assafoetida, which is to us the most nauseous stink in 

 nature. It would in a manner seem that our delight in perfumes was 

 made by habit ; and that a very little industry could bring us totally 

 to invert the perception of odours. 



Thus much is certain, that many bodies which at one distance are 

 an agreeable perfume, when nearer are a most ungrateful odour. Musk 

 and ambergrise, in small quantities, are considered by most persons as 

 highly fragrant; and yet, when in larger masses, their scent is insuf- 

 ferable. From a mixture of two bodies, each whereof is, of itself, 

 void of all smell, a very powerful smell may be drawn. Thus, by 

 grinding quick-lime with sal-ammoniac, may be produced a very foetid 

 mixture. On the contrary, from a mixture of two bodies, that are 

 separately disagreeable, a very pleasant aromatic odour may be gained. 

 A mixture of aqua-fortis with spirit of wine produces this effect. But 

 not only the alterations of bodies by each other, but the smallest 

 change in us, makes a very great alteration in this sense, and fre- 

 quently deprives us of it totally. A slight cold often hinders us from 

 smelling ; and as often changes the nature of odours. Some persons, 

 from disorder, retain an incurable aversion to those smells which most 

 pleased them before : and many have been known to have an antipa- 

 thy to some animals, whose presence they instantly perceive by the 

 smell. From all this, therefore, the sense of smelling appears to be 

 an uncertain monitor, easily disordered, and not much missed when 

 totally wanting. 



The sense most nearly allied to smelling is that of tasting. This, 

 some have been willing to consider merely as a nicer kind of touch, 

 and have undertaken to account, in -a very mechanical manner, for 

 Jin difference of savours. "Such bodies," said they, "as are pointed, 



