The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1903-12-25
WONDERFUL NASAL ORGAN.
Some Curious Facts and Instances
About Mans Senses of Taste
and Smell.

and Smell.
Scientists and travellers tell us that
one of the first changes that occur in
man who lives an absolutely natural
life for few months is an extraordi-
nary intensification of the sense of
smell
Describing his meeting with Mr..
Jackson in the wilds of Franz Joseph
Land, DR.. hansen tells how he first
discovered his nearness to the English
explorer by the scent of fragment Of
soap which the latter had used that
morning. His companion, Johansen,
noticed the scent also. GAS 1 approach
ed Jackson's hut" says the great Swed
ish explorer, 81 thought l could smell
everything it contained and give sort
of inventory of it's stores without en-
tering."
But even then the doctors sense of
smell could not be compared to that OF
the real savage. The Peruvian Indians
walking at night in the darkness of the
thick forests which line the lower spurs
of the Andes, can distinguish respec-
lively by the smell alone, between a
white man, negro or one of their own
race.
Few people realize how very closely
connected are the senses of taste and
smell. Many of the substances which
we say taste good are not tasted at all
but merely crafty us by their appeal to
the sense of smell All meats, wines
and fruits, for instance, are smelt rath-
! er than tasted. This is easily proved
by the fact that bad cold almost de-
stroys our appreciation of any of these
classes of foods or drinks. On the 9TH
er hand, however bad a cold one may
be afflicted with, one does not lose ones
taste for sugar., salt or quinine. These
| substances have no smell, but appeal
directly to the sense of taste.
If one of them be placed on the tongue
the sensation of sweetness, sadness
or bitterness is at once experienced. 1t
| is, however, worth noting that all these
| substances must be dissolved in water,
or by the moisture of the mouth, be-
fore they give any sensation of taste.
If you put grain or two of sugar
into your mouth and allow it to dis
perceptible. If, on the contrary, you
| rub the dissolving sugar into the palate
| by moving the tongue the taste is
greatly intensified. Sugar appeals to
the mucuous membrane of large por-
| ton of the mouth, as also does salt.
| This is why one smack's ones lips in
endeavoring to fully appreciate novel
| taste.
Just as different parts of our brain
are the seats of various mental powers,
so various portions of the mouth re-
ceive different kinds of tastes. Sugar
and kindred substances, and also purely
acid foods or drinks appeal to the tip of
the tongue and the front part of the
mouth. That is why one gets more en-
joyment from wine by slipping it.
Smell is far more delicate than taste.
AS already mentioned, most substances
must be moistened before appealing to
| the taste But in order to smell a sub
stance it must be in the form of vapor.
If eau de cologne be poured into the
nose it gives rise to no sense of odor
whatever Yet we all know how pow
erful is the sensation of smell produced
when the little particles constantly dis
engaging themselves from it's surface
are borne by the air to the olfactory
nerves. The nose is fitted to perceive
sensations from particles of almost in
conceivable smallness.
A single grain of musk will scent a
room for years, and as this result can
only be produced by continual loss of
particles of it's substances these parti-
Giles must be tiny beyond the reach of
the imagination.
The smelling region of the nose lies
in the upper part. The nose has three
regions, and it is in the third that the
seat of the sense is concentrated. The
mucuous membrane of the nose at this
point is much thicker than below and
is not red, but colored with a brown
pigment.
Men are possessed of more acute
powers of smell than women. Expert
ments to prove this were made by
Profs Nichols and Browne. Three Of
the men could detect prussic acid in a
solution composed of 100000 parts of
water and one of acid. but not one of
the women could detect the scent of
the prussic acid when the solution was
weaker than the one part in 10000 Of
vator