St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1893-09-09
a NEGLECTED SENSE.
The Nsse Il ~ Organ That Never Gets Rsa
Play.

The Nose Il .. 0fsea That Never osts Rsas
Play.
There are few persons who possess .
finely -developed sense of smell, that
subtlest and least-cultivated of the 90
eepted Ave. II
Occasionally there Is one who Il sbls
to make some simple analysis Of com.
bined odors, while few can detect and
name . single odor when far too faint
for the average perception. More fire.
quent tests with the olfsctometer which
measures and records acuteness OF smell
rs the tests of an oculist determine Wis
ual acuteness. may serve TO stimulate
ths twentieth century to some cultiva-
ton Of this useful sense 50 neglected
In the nineteenth.
The writer's first profound conviction
regarding the desira bility Of . keen and
discriminative perception Of odors was
reached one evening in a theater In
Nashville, Tenn. I'D 1864. Our little
party Of voting officers from the staff Of
Gen. Grant sat with their wives and q
handsome. boyish-looking surgeon.
Too much absorbed in the play to be
readily diverted, the writer paid slight
heed to the doctors inquiry:
"Do you perceive any unusual odor?"
But finally. observing his restless
ness, genuine attention was given to
the matter. but without the discovery
Of anything unusual; indeed. the VEN
tilaticn of the auditorium seemed bet
ter than was customary. Presently the
surgeon made his way TO the other side
Of the hall. and nothing more was seen
of him until the play was over. when.
in the main entrance on the way 70 the
street. there he stood smiling.
~ found H." he said.
"What was it?'' the writer asked.
"Juxt what I thought, and one of the
prettiest cases Of smallpox, too, that !
ever saw"
'.was il opposite MS? noticed You
went that .tat."
"Yes." was the laughing rejoiner; IT
followed my nose"
Some years after this attention was
directed to . beautiful child. who
could pronotinrc unerrirgly upon the
ownership of various belongings of per-
sons he knew by applying them to his
little nose. His perception Of the indi-
tidual human oior was so acute that
the little .ellow would frequently lift
a book from the table, and In the sim.
plest manner possible mention who had
last been reading ii.
He was about eight years Of s9e 1t
this time, and was constantly tested
with gloves, collars. wells and neckties
Partly by reason Of a series of stub
born colds and partly from the GUS
soi:lafy apathy, the supcrnormal hne-
ness of this child's sense 81 smell re.
ceived no pr oper cultivation. and il de-
clined eventually TO something near
the general level.
Perhaps the Yell-knswn case of
Jw,ia Rrace. ~ the Hartford asylum
for the blind. furnishes tie HOS. str.ls-
ing evidence of what may be accom-
plished by a careful development Of
the organs of smell. 1t has been an
thcritatsvelv stated that Julia Brace
made herself useful In the linen room
Of the asylum in asserting the wear
ing apparel Of the inmates, guided in
her selection Of the garments. which
she placed in orderly piles. by her keen
olfactory sense alone. II seems al
most incredible that the process of
scalding and ironing should
have still left in all the articles suffi-
Client personal odor 20 direct the blind
woman in her task.-N. Y. Recorder.