Lexington gazette. [volume] (Lexington, Va.) 1871-1962, 1900-04-04
THE SENSE OF SMELL.
coNTRAsTED VIII SIGHT 1T Is
slNGuLARLY UNDlscRlMlNATlNG.

In One Direction All Animals Arc AIRS
Compared with the Magnificent Organ
of the Horse or Dog the Human Nose 10
Insignificant.
1t is very doubtful, indeed, whether
people appreciate how great is the gun
between our human thoughts and feel.
ings-thoughts more than feelings-an(
those of the lover animals. One hears
sommonplaces of the possibility OF an
extra sense and 50 on, often enough
but the entire difference OF mental basis
hat must cxist between us and the oats
Joys and horses which we fancy we I'M
derstaud, seems hardly ever to De con-
ceivcd. -
In one direction all animals are alike
all dread death and physical injury;
all eagerly seek and accept suitable
food; all have, in their s.llier years.
,hat tendency to release the serious
hosi ,ss OF after life which we call
yiay.
The common needs authorizations
furnish a mental substratum, that
roughly all may comprehend; but init
it's crude and almost formless commnnl'
cations, what an infinite amount OF onr'
selves we are inclined to read In, with
out further justification!
The human world / world OF PIC
lures; our memories are 'iohi in"ee@
hat we raise from their sieor III car
brains for a little while.
But since the days Of Bishop Re. k".
lev, we have come to perceive, III
and more distinctly, that the eye s'rH
so clearly, not by its own viz u. hni L.
the result of TIE education afford =! T.
bv our hands At first TIE world d; II
child must lie a flat confusion OF Sh.,i'es
which it learns to Interpret by thrm -
ment of its hands over the fOriaS Ii 81 y
The vision is, at FIRST. wit ici''h
without relief, without modelling u =.
mosphero.
Those bora blind, who at after agt
have been restored to their sight iH
medical skill, and WHO con- n'ntil
have not learned to connect 81 Il n
touch impressions, fanciel all IL thing
hew saw touched Their eyes, In eel.
i is one of the elementary tea In - %
psychology, that our perception OF pace
m our vision OF tho world comes to us
'lrough our fingers.
The lion has no fingers; neither do
| he cat, the dog and the LorSe possess
these necessary media to nicceliscrl NJ
nation Of shapes aud position, The
horse, with its digits imprisoned in q
horny hooi. is in particularly bad
case. It is impossible TO believe that
the painting on the eye OF these crea'
lures is interpreted by them with any
thing like the delicacy or truth that We
can attribute to what we see. Moreover
| A certain yellow spot Of distinct Wis
ion," commoa to us and the apes, is alb
seut from their eyes.
| The horse frequently seems to use hi
eyes independently Of each other. Un
doubleday the majority Of animals d.
| so. Now, then, can we imagine IL
| their case, for moment, such single
picture OF a world as we, in our waking
moments, look out upon?
A few simple experiments with ca
will convince>nny one that she can no
distinguish hand with empty fingers
held toward her from one containing
any not too odoriferous edible. And Will
the animal may not, and in all prob
ability does not, refer its world to
spaced picture and think in visible i'm
s.' es - we do, there is no doubt that II
ether respects its sensations may hav
| a definition of mental value quite un
known to the equivalent sense in our
selves. We may "carry faces to TIL
heavens" and stalk about the tempo
cary lords of the world, but for all tina
our noses are poor things.
The human nose is an APOLOGIZE
| pimple compared with the magniicen
organ Of the horse or dog. Oul sens
of smell is, when contrasted with on
sight and hearing, singularly un'liscrin
mating. We can arrange sounds int
3 series-we know E is between G and L
{ we appreciate octaveS and harmonic:
Similarly we can put the colors into Of
, der, decide upon the amount OF blue
r u purple, and get almost to emotion
the sight of white star in the blue OF
| summer twilight, or Of the amber sui
light glinting between the blades
grass.
But this serial arrangement. this sor
ing and selective choice, is entirely b.
| yond our rudimentary senses OF smell
To us the idea of the scent OF the vol
being rich harmony, or the snggestio
that the frying Of onions is discord,
that patchouli and the new-mown ha
J., Se pleasant things in different Tins
! nd keys, sounds utter nonsense. Or
noses are entirely too dull to effect II
Aalysis necessary before scents can
| distinguished as complex, and sortc
| and recombined so as to he made an sc
thetic pleasure.
But with the ami gals we have name
all that is different Half the head
It q horse or adult dog is nose. 1t
probable, therefore, that the dogs mir
+ Is based essentially on impressions
It smell. He perceives the crafty Ulyss
e ! through all DISCUSSES that hide hi
!, from human detection, shifts him and
" satisfied.
a Any one who has watched q lost d
II in the street must, or at least ought
perceive that the animal mas only t
III yaguest idea of what its adored mast
& looks like. Only on that suppositi,
10 can its movements he understood. I
creature is looking for smell ina
e with its nose; and sense with such o
l. alytical power as the dogs olfacto
70 perceptions exhibit, must certainly
capable of harmonic and discordant