Evening journal., 1897-11-13
The MYsTsRY or Smell
Prob1ems That Await the studious
Attention CT Scientific Men.

sense of smell. Our knowledge of the
science of colors remains about where
i was so years ago, although we have
learned so much about light, heat. and
sound. The old imperfect classification
Of smells into "pungent, saline, and
saccharine" still remains. Indeed,
about all that most of us know is that
some smells are agreeable and some de-
.idedly the reverse. There is no stand
lrd of smell, no unit odor established as
base of comparison. We do not know
when one smell is twice as strong as an
other. As a famous chemist said:
'Quanthative analysis has not yet been
applied TO the skunk"
A writer in the Independent says that
On an examination of several thousand
lowers he found that there was a con-
aection between color and perfume. lie
finds that of white flowers Il per cent.
gave out agreeable odors; of gray ones,
IL per cent; of red, little over eight
per cent; of yellow. little over six
Der cent; of blue, four per cent, and of
green, only two per cent. But, further,
yellow flowers contain the largest num-
ber with a disagreeable odor and the
white the next largest. But this ana!y-
sis is ytated by the fact that a perfume
lgreealSle to one person may be sicken-
| ing to another. There is no aesthetic
standard of smells. and there are but
few which all declare TO be delightful.
An English manufacturer Of perfumes
asserts that he is able TO combine odors
so as to produce n certain effect and
talks Of perfume scale, but this seems
rather commercial than scientific. If
be could really produce an odor which
everybody would recognize, by the COM
bination Of different smell elements,
Tie foundation Of science of smell
would be laid.
One remarkable thing about odor is
that the emission of it does not appre-
eiably diminish the mass of the body
from which it is given. of. a grain OF
musk may fiji a room with odor for
years and weigh as much atthe end Of
the time as it did AT the beginning. It's
weight must have been diminished, for
it is impossible to believe that an ef
feet on our organs of sense can be pro-
lucod without an impact of material
particles from a source of energy, but
the amount Of matter dissipated is in
fnitesimal in the case of an odorous
body.
The sense of smell is apparently uni
yersal. but stronger in animals than in
man. The lowest orders smell with
u their mouths. insects smell with their
hairs, fishes smell in water, and the
acuteness of the power of smell in dogs
and in savages is we'll known. Hum
boldt says that the Peruvian Indians
could tell in the darkest night whether
person approaching was a European,
4 negro. or an American Indian. In
those deprived of the other senses the
e power of analyzing odors is sometimes
= abnormally developed.
The Scotch boy. James Mitchell. p
blind deaf mute, could distinguish the
individuals in a room into which he was
I led. John Mossman, n deaf mute ot
Parkersburg, W. Va, was able to locate
oil wells with the certainty that q set
ter finds partridges. His nose brought
' him fortune of s5O0.O0O as fees for
!, professional smelling Git is strange that
: no one has trained dog to point Pc
troleum). Possibly a dog might be
I taught TO "stand" a nugget of gold in
the frozen soil of Alaska, as pigs find
trufles in Perigord, for metals have a
characteristic smell. It's probable that
g everything gives off q characteristic eff
5 huvium, though our sense is not deli
o cate enough to detect the most subtle
e ones. Some gases, like hydrogen, have
no odors, like chlorine have very pre-
eeptible one. There is 4 general idea
L that body must possess molecular
y weight 10 times as great as that of by
= 1rogen before il can affect the olfactorl
E nerves Of human beings. but even thai
needs confirmation. We frequently
VI confound taste and smell, and ii is saiC
IS that on one can distinguish an onioI
l. from an apple by taste alone.
Some odors clirg TO the surface o
things, rs the odor of game, which rare
g. ly rises much above the ground; Others
K IRE rapidly diffused through the air
k Why is this? No one knows. One of TIT
10 most singular things about the sense o
IS smell is that it is not subject to illusions
I'd Sight may be deceived. One may i'm
ngne he sees things which are not be
fore him; he may hear a roaring in hi
ears when there is no sound, but IT j
d, said that even the insane are not sub
- Ieet 10 olfactory delusions. There ar
.s =, no ghost smells. If this is true, what
~ the reason, what is the explanation 0
the phenomenon? Again, why are tn
he earth and fields so much more fragran
IN in the morning than at noon, when. o
at the other hand, the strength OF mos
Odors is increased by heat?
r The scientific men ought at least t
~ "make q bluff" at some of these prol
IS. lens. As it is. here is an original sens
,st Dr. power Of perception of the utmos
II refinement. older, probably. than th
o: fense OF sight, power for the cXcrcis
in Of which we use n complicated mechan
TIC .al ana nervous mechanism. the ratui
md modus opsrandi of which is as niue
.ot 2 matter of conjecture as were those {
en- the senses of sight and smell 900 year
ais sgo. Evidently science has not di
lowered everything yet. - Hartfor