ODORS AND LIFE. 185 
cessary aid of oxygen in the atmosphere, proves, too, that 
odors are in no respect comparable to light or heat, which 
one may regard in an abstract way, in the immaterial and 
ethereal space which is the region of their motion, as 
proper forces, and acting from a distance. Odors, to be 
perceived, must be taken up by oxygen, and borne by it to 
the organ of smell. In a word, odor is the odoriferous 
particle itself, while light is not the light-giving body. 
Does oxygen exert a chemical influence on those atoms 
of which it robs odorous substances? We do not know, 
neither do we know of what kind is the action which oc- 
curs on the contact of odor with the olfactory nerve, 
whether the phenomenon is a mere mechanical agitation, 
or whether some chemical decomposition takes place in the 
case. At any rate, it is allowable to reason from the ob- 
served facts that smell and taste are two senses peculiarly 
distinct from the others, as well with respect to the ob- 
ject of sensation as to the ideas which the mind derives 
from the sensation itself. Sight, touch, and hearing, in a 
manner physical senses, furnish us the ideas of external 
forms, harmonies, and motions. They introduce us to the 
conception of the beautiful, and are true fellow-laborers 
with the intellect. Taste and smell are rather chemic 
senses, as Nicklés calls them. They come into action only 
upon contact, and awake in us only such sensations as life 
and mind gain no profit from. While the former are the 
spring of the highest functions, the latter are of use only 
for the performance of acts of nutrition. 
The learned and capable author’ of a book on odors, 
published within a few years, fancies, however, that he can 
establish a kind of zesthetics of odors, more or less resem- 
bling that of tones. He has investigated olfactory harmo- 
nies, hoping to find in them the elements of asort of music. 
“Odors,” he says, “seem to affect the olfactory nerves in 
1 Piesse, on ‘“ Odors, Perfumes, and Cosmetics.” 
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