The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-08-07
MEASURING AN DOOR.
Science shows Us the Way to Iden-
tffy Smells UnerringIy.
From the New York Journal.

From the New York Journal
Nothing is more subtle, more evanes-
cent, than an odor. and one would think
that If there were a domain likely to
remain forever free from scientific meas
urement. it would be that of scents.
But now comes NJ. Eugene Mesnard a
French botanist, and proceeds to unlock
the main gate Of the fastness that had
seemed impregnable. He has discovered
simple and easy method of measuring
the intensity of an odor. Modern author
titles hold that the progress of a science
Is rapid in proportion TO the ease with
which measurements may be performed
IN II. Electricity made almost no prog
ress at all till exact methods of meas
uring charges and currents and the forces
of electric attraction and repulsiOn were
devised, and when these were perfected
II went ahead almost at a bound. Who
cannot, DO, now that the prime essential
to its progress has been discovered?
We are already able by the sense of
smell to distinguish very exactly between
different kinds of scents-eYery man, with
out special practice, can doubtless recog-
nize hundreds of substances with the aid
of the nose alone. We can tell whether
one Whit of ammonia is more or less
powerful than another, but we cannot
assign a number to each. The more pow
erfu one might be twice or thrice or a
hundred times as powerful as the other,
for all we can tell
And who,-to 60 further still, would ven
ture to assign the exact strength of a
Whit of ammonia that should be equal TO
an entirely different odor-say the per
fume of rose? Yet, all this, and more,
NJ. Mesnard has done
He takes advantage of the delicate quail
itatiVe power Of the sense of Smell-that
is, of its ability to discriminate between
odors, be they different only by very
little. He finds that if some very char
acteristic odor be mingled with the one
to be measured there is certain a proper
ton of the two where they balance, as II
were, and form what he calls a neutral
odor" In this state the addition of a
very little more of either scent causes
that one to predominate. When they are
thus balanced the intensities of the two
odors are equal, and by properly choosing
standard odor we can thus compare
all others with it, and, hence, indirectly,
with each other.
This is the way NJ. Mesnard goes to work
to make his measurement. The perfume
whose intensity is to be measured, or the
object that gives 1t off, say a bunch of
violets, is confined under a bell glass. The
odor of turpentine is pumped in by squeez-
ing a rubber bulb till the neutral odor''
is obtained, the experimenter keeping
watch" as it were, by smelling at a con-
Meeting tube. Then the mixed scents are
admitted, little bit at time, into a jar
containing glowing phosphorus. The
amount admitted is registered by the
turns of handle and the number of turns
necessary to put out the phosphorus
gives the measure of the quantity of tur-
pentine and hence of the Intensity of the
odor that was neutralized by il.
We may expect, if such measurements
as this are to be carried out very fire.
quently, a great increase of dellcacy in
smell among those who perform them.
At present this sense has been much ne
elected. The processes of evolution have
passed it by on one side of the human
species, although in others-the dog, for
IL L. II
oped But as certain modern authorities
have pointed out, man has, to a great ex-
tent taken his evolution into his own
hands.
Perhaps NJ. Mesnard is giving us a little
shove toward an almost dog-like perfec-
ton of scent!