CONCERNING ODOURS, 66-68 



improvement to the odour: in fact one might say 

 that not 1 every combination of one fragrant thing 

 with another will produce such a quality, but though 

 sometimes the effect of such mixture is an improve- 

 ment, sometimes it may be the reverse, as in the case 

 of perfumes : for while the effect of some admixtures 

 is to remove excessive strength or harshness, in other 

 cases the odour is enfeebled and made, as it were, 

 insipid. With solids however all combinations are 

 possible. 



In fact powders are the better, the more in- 

 gredients they have. Also the admixture of wine 

 makes some perfumes and things used for incense 

 more fragrant, for instance myrrh. It appears also 

 that perfume sweetens wines, wherefore some add it 

 in the manufacture, some put it in at the time of 

 drinking. Nor is it unnatural that between "these 

 senses, since they are akin and are affected by the 

 same objects, there should be a sort of reciprocity : 

 for, to speak generally, no taste is unaccompanied by 

 smell and no smell is unaccompanied by taste, the 

 reason being that a thing which has no taste pro- 

 duces no smell. 



It is also the case that smells actually change 

 along with tastes, for instance in wine and certain 

 fruits. And in some cases, as with grapes, the 

 change takes place earlier, during 2 the flowering 

 period : while in perfumes it occurs only when they 

 have reached their best and are about, as it were, to 

 go off. Almost all perfumes undergo alteration at 

 certain seasons of the year, and this applies specially 

 to the weakest kinds : in the case of those made 



possibly avdfl has got in from below and we should read 



387 

 c c 2 



