The Indianapolis journal., 1902-01-19
Scientific VOtaries of the "New Psy-
choIOgy" Have Invented Some
Test Instruments.
MENTALITY JUDGED BY SENSES
OBTUSENEss IN ANY OF THEM SAID
TO SIGNIFY DEGENERACY.
Novel and Unique Meters for Meas
uring the Least That You Can Per-
ceive in the Way of OdOrs, Etc.

Correspondence OF the Indianapolis Journal
WASHINGTON, Jan 17-What is the
story of your senses?
Character reading from the physiognomy,
the Uranium and the hands must be
classed among the old arts. But the science
Of determining disposition from the five
senses is distinctly novel. 1t is a product of
the new psychology which is upsetting
hitherto welI-accepted theories about the
mind.
The five senses are the foundation Of all
thought. If any school of character reading
be rational this new one would seem to be
the most reasonable.
Several new instruments which read your
character in this new way very inter-
esting and not too complicated for descrip-
ton. They have very long names and are
being used by serious savants for serious
research. This new science of character
reading is but one of their by-products.
Is your sense of smell aristocratic or
plebeian? Let us see how this is deter
mined.
The 'olfactometer'' will determine this
very quickly and very accurately. 1t con-
sists of a screen of odorless metal mounted
upon a vertical rod This screen is pierced
at the center by two horizontal inhaling
tubes The ends Of the tubes projecting in
! front of the screen fit conveniently into the
nostrils of the subject undergoing the test.
! The opposite ends are graduated into twen-
ty divisions of nm. each. Over them
! slide odorous cyinders-hollow tubes satu-
rated with some fragrant material of
known quality and strength. The further
a cylinder is drawn toward the back of the
instrument the greater the odor in the con-
nected tube.
Pushed back to the first mark on the
tube, the air inhaled has passed over five
millimeters of exposed scented surface be-
! fore it enters the tube and gets to the nose.
/ Push the cylinder back to the second mark
and ten miIlimeters are exposed, etc.
1t is thus possible to obtain a number of
| smell strengths varying from to 10 cent?
meters of surface. These are the smell
units If one perfume be placed in one
cylinder and another in the other, one nose
can inhale two distinct smells at once.
| The cylinders are labeled a, b. c, d. ETC.,
in pairs, according to their odor.
You are placed in a comfortable chair
before a table bearing the instrument. Your
proboscis having been duly connected, one
/ cylinder at time is first used. At the be-
! ginning ii is placed upon the No. 1 mark
and is slowly moved over the graduations
until the scent becomes perceptible. Thus
! is your acuteness measured in units.
WHAT ACUTENESS INDICATES.
This 'smellometer" thus far indicates
that acuteness Of scent is an accompani-
ment of higher development; obtuseness,
characteristic of degeneration.
Experiments made with the olfactome-
| ter applied to different classes indicate
that the sense of smell is three times duller
in criminals than in normal individuals.
An examination of many degenerate wom-
en- resulted in showing that 10 per cent.
were without the sense of smell. Smell is
dull in thieves, but not so much so as in
women of the class before mentioned.
This work has brought science face to
face with the fact that nomenclature for
smells must be devised. We have no names
for odors, although colors are perceptibly
designated. The bare word smell sug-
gests a bad odor. There seems TO be no
doubt that preferences of the olfactory
sense are the result of refining influences.
and as a proof Of this we have only to
! compare those to whom only the delicate
extracts, such as violet, are satisfying
complete obliteration of scent by scent is
possible. This is proved by placing one
odorous substance in one cylinder of the
instrument another in the other. and al
lowed the two to be inhaled at once. The
result is the absence of scent characteristic
of ordinary atmospheric air.
The sense of taste is found to be much
more acute among normals than among
degenerates.
To measure your acuteness of taste the
investigator places you before a table upon
which has been arranged a series of glass
vessels containing solutions Of sour, sweet.
bitter, salty metallic and alkaline favors.
Before each cf these is placed g graduate of
filtered water containing dropper Com
mencing with bitter flavor, for example
the investigator places one drop of it in the
corresponding graduate Of water, mixes ii
thoroughly and then places one drop of the
weakly diluted solution upon your tongue
You cannot distinguish the flavor until,
perhaps. twenty or thirty drops OF the Bit
ter flavor have been added to the gradu-
ate. Yet the investigator proceeds carefully
in steps, adding a drop at a time to the
water and later applying a single drop of
the final solution TO your tongue. Your
acuteness Of taste is thus measured in the
number of drops Of given flavor of known
strength which must be added to a given
quantity of water before you can begin to
detect the flavor.
The solutions generally used in the taste
ometer are sugar. per cent; quinine, cO2
per cent; tartaric acid, 5 per cent; salt
per cent; sodium carbonate. / per cent
These. respectively, give the standard
sweet. bitter, sour: salty and alkaline
flavors.
The greater part of what we eat is taste
less Our food gets its flavor from scent
of condiments which burn or pucker the
tongue. If you hold your nose-or, better,
fill it with water-and taste variety of
sweet things the while, they will impart
very nearly the same. indistinct flavor
When the sense Of smell is entirely lost or
dinary favoring syrups impart merely a
sweetish taste, with no difference between
their effects. Pepper and mustard produce
merely sharp sensations upon the tongue
Ginger and cloves are alike.
CURIOUS EXPERIMENTS.
II two equally sweet solutions are pre-