FRAGRANT LEAVES V. SWEET-SCENTED FLOWERS. 
147 
bergamot, with a few sage leaves and rosemary and lavender 
cut small; keep in pretty jars and add lavender water if it 
becomes too dry. 
The Study op Vegetable Odours. 
I do not know of any other subject so worthy of study as this 
intricate one of odours or perfumes. We ought to educate our 
noses better than we do. The nose is really a sensitive organ, 
placed as a sentinel at the very entrance or gate-house of the 
lungs; and if our noses are not alert and faithful we lay ourselves 
open to all sorts of diseases or ills that flesh is heir to. The 
odours or essential oils of plants are essentially antiseptic, and 
the wonder is that pathologists have neglected their health- 
yielding virtues so long. We have had Pfarrer Kneipp with 
his wonderful water cure ; we have had the grape cure; and 
I hope soon that some clever specialist will start a hospital or 
“ scent cure,” in which sweet odours will play a part not inferior 
to other medicants that act only on the stomach, and leave the 
lungs to do the best they can alone. 
Perfumes and Temperature. 
The late Professor Tyndall made a series of very elaborate 
experiments as to the absorption of heat by odorous vapours. 
Their action is enormous in this direction as compared with 
that of pure (i.e. unscented) atmospheric air ; and it was found 
that the least energetic of the odours employed, viz. patchouli, 
had thirty times the cooling effect of fresh air, and that of the 
most energetic, viz. cassia, had actually 109 times the effect. 
Perfumes 
Patchouli 
Absorption 
per 100 
. 30-0 
Perfumes 
Lavender 
Absorption 
per 100 
. 60-0 
Santal . 
. 32-0 
Lemon . 
. 65-0 
Geranium 
. 33*0 
Portugal 
. 67-0 
Oil of Cloves . 
. 33-5 
Thyme. 
. 68*0 
Attar of Roses 
. 36-5 
Rosemary 
. 74-0 
Bergamot 
. 44-0 
Oil of Laurel 
. 80-0 
Neroli 
. 47-0 
Cassia . 
. 109-0 
Floral and Leaf Odours Antiseptic. 
One good effect gained by diffusion of perfumes by the burn¬ 
ing of fragrant herbs, or gum resins, in the hot and too often 
stuffy wards of hospitals in summer time would be the banish¬ 
ment of the flies that too often fret and irritate the restless 
