NEWS OF SPRING 



Let us, then, confess that we do not yet know in what 

 respect perfumes are useful to the flower, even as we cannot 

 tell why we ourselves perceive them. Indeed, of all our 

 senses, that of smell is the most unexplained. It is evident that 

 sight, hearing, touch and taste are indispensable to our animal 

 existence. Only by long training do we learn to enjoy forms, 

 colours and sounds for their own sakes. However, our sense of 

 smell also exercises important servile functions. It is the custo- 

 dian of the air we breathe, the chemist or hygienic specialist 

 that watches carefully over the quality of the food offered for 

 our consumption, any disagreeable emanation revealing the 

 presence of suspicious or dangerous germs. But besides this 

 practical mission it has another which serves no apparent pur- 

 pose. Perfumes are utterly useless to the needs of our material 

 life. When too violent or too lasting, they may even become 

 detrimental to it. Nevertheless, we possess a faculty that revels 

 in them and brings us the joyful tidings of them with as much 

 enthusiasm and conviction as though it concerned the discov- 

 ery of a delicious fruit or beverage. This uselessness deserves 

 our consideration. It must hide some fair secret. We have 

 here the only instance in which nature procures us a gratuitous 

 pleasure, a satisfaction that does not serve to gild one of neces- 



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