26 BOOK OF THE SCENTED GARDEN 
At a very early period in man’s history it would appear 
as though his senses, or instincts, and his reasoning 
powers were very unequally balanced, so that the senses 
often overpowered the mind. Savage man develops his 
brain mainly through the exercise of his senses; but a 
cultured man of to-day prides himself on his self-abnega- 
tion or altruism, and so his senses are developed and 
educated only under the brake-power influence of his brain. 
In a word the senses are very apt to say to us, ‘“‘Itis a 
lovely morning, let us go out and shoot something ” ; 
but our higher mental nature whispers, ‘‘ No! Let us try 
to make all beautiful living things as happy as we can.” 
Remembering this dual nature in ourselves, the conflict 
between the animal instincts and our reasoning powers, 
I think you will see that it is extremely probable that 
men and women of old were led to enjoy and use sweet- 
smelling natural products instinctively long before they 
could perceive any sanitary value in perfumes. 
So much, then, for the early history, and you will 
naturally ask me what I have to say about sweet-scented 
leaves. Well, my object is now to try and persuade 
you, and all gardeners, to place a higher value on sweet- 
smelling leaves than even some of you do already. I 
want you to rate all fragrant foliage quite as highly as 
you now profess to value sweet-scented blossoms. I 
also wish to point out some of the essential differences, 
and advantages, even of foliage leaves, as opposed to 
those floral leaves we call flowers. I am also particularly 
anxious to try and show that there is a sanitary basis, rather 
than a merely sensuous reason, for the usage of sweet 
odours and vegetable perfumes, whether the same be 
fresh or dried, living, dead, or distilled. 
Modern researches have amply proved that ozone is 
developed when the sun shines on most kinds of fragrant 
plants, such as flowers, fir and pine trees, and sweet 
herbs generally. 
