Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1879-05-23
THE OLFACTORY.SENsE.
Interesting Things which Prof. Huxley
Knows about IL.


Knows about IL.
Prof. Huxley writes in the Nineteenth
Century: Let us consider the olfactory
sense organ more nearly. Each of the
nostrils leads into passage com pletely
separated from the other by partition,
and theseiwo passages place the nos
trils in free communication with the
back Of the throat, SO that they freely
transmit the air passing to the lungs
when the mouth is shut, as in ordinary
breathing. The floor of each passage
is fiat, but its roof is a high arch, the
crown Of which is seated between the
orbital cavities Of the skull, which serve
for the lodgnl tent and protection of the
ey es, and, therefore, lies behind the ap-
parent limits of that feature which in
ordinary language is called the nose.
From the side walls of the upper and
back part Of these arched chambers GER
certain delicate plates Of bone project,
and these, AZ well rs considerable part
of the partition between the two cham.
bers, are covered by fine, soft, moist
membrane. 1t is to this Schneiderian,
or olfactory, membrane that odorous
bodies must obtain direct access if they
are to give rise TO their appropriate sen
sations; and it is upon the relatively
large surface which the olfactory mem
brane offers that we must seek for the
seat of the organ of the olfactory sense.
The only essential part of that organ
consists Of n multitude of minute rod
like bodies, set perpendicularly to the
surface Of the coat, or epithellum,
which covers the olfactory membrane,
as the epidcrmis covers the skin. In
the case Of the olfactory sense, there can
he no doubt that the democratic hypo-
thesis, ut any rate for such odorous
substances rs musk, has u good founda-
ton. lniinitesimal Particles Of musk
fly off from the surface of the odOrous
body, and, becoming diiiused through
the air, are carried into the nasal pas
sages, and thence into the olfactory
chambers, where they come into con-
tact with the Harmonious extremi-
ties of the delicate olfactory
epithclium. But this is not
all. The "mind" is not, so to speak,
upon the other side of the epithelium.
On the contrary, the inner ends OF the
ollactory cells are connected with nerve
fibers, passing into the cavity OF the
skull, ut length end III Il part of the
brain, the ollactory sensorium. 1t is
certain that the integrity Of each, and
the physical inter-connection OF all
these three structures, the epithelum
of the sensory organ, the nerve fbers
and the sensOrium, are essential condi-
tions to ordinary sensation. That is to
say, the air III the olfactory chambers
may be charged with particles Of musk;
but, if either the epithelium or the nerve
iibcrs, or the sensorium are injured, or
physically disconnected from one an
other, sensation viii not arise. More
over, the epithelium may be said to be
receptive, the nerve libers transmissive
and the sensorium sansifacient. For, in
the net Of smelling the particles Of the
odOrous substance produce molecular
change (which Hartley was in all prob
ability right in terming II vibration) in
the cpithelium, aud the change, being
transmitted to the nerve tiberg, passes
along with IL nervous velocity, and
Iihill viz stilNpl lNilii, 10
dlately followed by the sensation. Thus
modern investigation supplies a repre-
sentative of the Epicurean simulacra in
the volatile particles of the musk but
it also gives MS the stamp Of the parti-
cles of the olfactory epithelium, with
out any transmission Of matter, rs the
equivalent Of the Aristotelian "form,"
while, finally, the modes Of motion Of
the molecules of the oliactory cell. Of
the nerve, and of the cerebra eensori-
um, which are Hartley's vibrations,
may stand very well for double of the
Intentional species" of the schoolmen.
And this last remark is not intended
merely to suggest II fanclul parallel;
for, il the cause Of the great sensation
is, rs analogy suggests, To be sought i'll
the mode OF motion of the object of
SENSE, then it is quite possible that the
particular mode of motion of the OBJ
iect is reproduced in the sensorium;
exactly rs the diaphram of the tele-
phone reproduces the mode Of motion
taken up nj its receiving end. In
other words, the secondary Intentional
species" may be, rs the schoolmen
thought the primary one was, the lost
link between matter and mind.