Am.  Jour,  Pharm. 
Oct.,  1921. 
Smell-Shock 
685 
suits  of  the  experiment  were  both  interesting  and  amusing.  Oil  of 
turpentine  was  recognized  by  all  except  three  and  these  men  called 
it  in  turn — oil  of  anise,  oil  of  caraway  and  pine  oil.  Alcohol  was 
difficultly  recognized  by  the  majority,  a  few  claiming  that  it  had  no 
distinctive  odor.  One  of  the  faculty  of  the  College,  after  inhaling 
the  liquid  for  several  minutes  refused  to  commit  himself,  although 
he  said  the  odor  was  very  familiar  to  him.  Peculiarly,  oil  of  cinna- 
mon was  reported  as  oil  of  anise,  oil  of  bitter  almond  and  oil  of 
wintergreen  by  three  of  the  contestants.  Vinegar  was  easily  recog- 
nized, although  one  of  the  men  said  that  it  reminded  him  of  cheese. 
It  was  to  be  expected  that  oil  of  orange  would  be  mistaken  for  oil  of 
lemon  and  eight  men  reported  the  latter.  The  difference  between 
the  two  is  not  very  pronounced  it  is  true,  but  to  the  trained  nose  is 
readily  discernible.  Kerosene  and  gasoline  were  confusing  to  quite  a 
number,  indicating  that  gasoline  is  not  what  it  is  "cracked  up"  to  be. 
Why  two  men.  should  report  gasoline  as  chloroform  is  beyond  ex- 
planation. Similarly,  two  men  reported  kerosene  as  carbon  disul- 
phide.  Ten  men  judged  wrongly  on  creosote.  Five  reported  oil  of 
clove,  and  the  other  five  reported  cresol.  Those  who  were  unsuc- 
cessful in  identifying  oil  of  sassafras  and  oil  of  anise,  said  that  they 
recalled  the  odors  as  being  those  associated  with  salt  water  taffy. 
Only  two  men  failed  to  identify  methyl  salicylate  (synthetic  oil  of 
wintergreen),  and  singularly  both  of  them  reported  oil  of  pepper- 
mint. Running  true  to  form,  benzaldehyde  was  twice  mistaken  for 
nitrobenzene  (oil  of  mirbane).  Only  one  man  failed  to  recognize 
ether.  He  reported  this  as  ethyl  nitrite,  at  the  same  time  reassuring 
himself  by  saying  that  he  had  worked  with  this  substance  at  college 
while  doing  thesis  work.  Nine  men  were  able  to  identify  the  odor 
of  linseed  oil.  The  others  reported  it  variously  as  fish  oil  or  cod 
liver  oil  and  one  said  it  was  "neatsf  oot  oil.  The  similarity  of  odor 
of  linseed  oil  and  cod  liver  or  fish  oil,  is  sometimes  baffling  unless  the 
olfactory  nerve  is  highly  trained.  The  identification  of  oil  6i  nut- 
meg was  not  attempted  by  three  of  the  men,  three  reported  oil  of 
turpentine  one  reported  it  as  oil  of  colander  and  one  as  oil  of 
cardamom. 
It  is  significant  to  note  that  the  sense  of  smell  in  one  of  the 
students  examined  was  almost  nil.  He  admitted  that  he  detected 
only  the  most  powerful  odors  and  that  he  never  noticed  the  odor  of 
hydrogen  sulphide  in  the  laboratory,  although  his  desk  was  less  than 
six  feet  away  from  the  hood  where  this  gas  was  generated  and  used 
