CONCERNING ODOURS 



Introductory : Of odours in general and the classification of 

 them. 



I. ODOURS in general, like tastes, are due to 

 mixture : for anything which is uncompounded has 

 no smell, just as it has no taste : wherefore simple 

 substances have no smell, such as water air and fire : 

 on the other hand earth is the only elementary 

 substance which has a smell, or at least it has one to 

 a greater extent than the others, because it is of a 

 more composite character than they. 



Of odours some are, as it ware, indistinct and 

 insipid, as is the case with tastes, while some have 

 a distinct character. And these characters appear 

 to correspond to those of tastes, yet they have not in 

 all cases the same names, as we said in a former 

 treatise ; nor in general are they marked off from 

 one another by such specific differences as are tastes : 

 rather the differences are, one may say, in generic 

 character, some things having a good, some an evil 

 odour. 1 But the various kinds of good or evil odour, 

 although they exhibit considerable differences, have 

 not received further distinguishing names, marking 

 off one particular kind of sweetness or of bitterness 

 from another : we speak of an odour as pungent, 

 powerful, faint, sweet, or heavy, though some of 

 these descriptions apply to evil-smelling things as 

 well as to those which have a good odour. 



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