PEEFUME OF AN EVENING PRIMROSE 241 



efforts has restored my peace of mind. With the 

 exception of two or three ladies, who, having no 

 male relations to make up their minds for them, 

 profess to be still in doubt, all sadly acknowledged 

 that they find themselves poorer by one faculty 

 than they had supposed themselves to be; that 

 they began trying to recall smells in the belief that 

 they had the power; that they found that they 

 could almost do it, then began to doubt, and finally 

 with a feeling of impotence, of being baffled, gave 

 it up. 



A simple mental experiment may serve to con- 

 vince any person who tries it that the sensations 

 of smell do not reproduce themselves in the mind. 

 We think of a rose, or a lily, or a violet, and a 

 feeling of pleasure attends the thought; but that 

 this feeling is caused solely by the image of some- 

 thing beautiful to the eye becomes evident when 

 we proceed to think of some artificial perfume, or 

 extract, or essence of a flower. The extract, we 

 know, gave us far more pleasure than the slight 

 perfume of the flower, but there is no feeling of 

 pleasure in thinking of it : it is nothing more than 

 an idea in the mind. On the other hand, when we 

 remember some extremely painful scene that we 

 have witnessed, or some sound, expressing Dis- 

 tress or anguish, that we have heard, something 

 of the distressed feeling experienced at the time is 

 reproduced in us ; and it is common to hear people 

 say, It makes me sad, or makes me dizzy, or makes 

 my blood run cold, when I think of it; which is 



